


Bonfire

by Natizilda



Series: The Time Nomad [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Adventure, Gen, Journey, Long, time travelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-09
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2019-01-31 04:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 29,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12674544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natizilda/pseuds/Natizilda
Summary: While testing a new machine, Shadow is accidentally sent far back into the past. Stuck in a time very different from his, he starts a journey to find his way back, with the help of a too excited and annoying tiny guide.





	1. The Survivor

**Author's Note:**

> So! I'm kinda embarassed to post this, hahaha, it's my first Sonic fanfiction even though I've been in the fandom for years now. I had this idea long ago while watching a Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric playthrough. As far as I remember Sonic leaves Shadow in the Ice Age and he never appears again until the end of the game, when he shows up just to give a thumbs up and leaves. I thought it would be really funny if that happened because he got stuck in the past and had to find his way back somehow. So, Bonfire was made. It has no ships, no huge drama, it's just a fun journey full of adventure and action. It's the kind of thing I like to write, after all, hahaha!
> 
> It has an OC, that was created specifically for this story, rather than the other way around. I think she's really funny and I loved writing her. I hope you like her too!
> 
> Each chapter has a song that inspired me to write. Maybe you'll like a few, maybe you'll hate some others, but I think it's interesting to leave them here.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM35X5hdzEs

He arrived at the nomad camp by the sunset. The tribe was simple; all of them had either fur or wool coats, and everyone worked together to light bonfires and set up tents for the night.

He managed to get a blanket, made of mole fur, in exchange for some help to set up the camp. Its owner clearly didn’t want to get rid of it, but changed its mind, because Shadow was almost freezing; the temperature was close to 0ºC, and a pair of sneakers and gloves weren’t exactly enough for that kind of weather.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure about how he had survived the last three days in such an inhospitable landscape; it felt like an eternity since he was accidentally warped there. Who could guess that long trips through time and space would finally work? There he was, thousands of years behind his own time, working in exchange for a chance to survive.

That was probably the second most fragile moment in all of his life.

He saw the group while making a campfire in an isolated part of the nomad camp. Four or five children seemed to play with something really long and furry. Upon lighting the bonfire, he found out that the "thing" was actually a rabbit's gigantic ear. The ear's owner screamed and struggled at the middle of the group, trying to run away while the others, bigger than her, just laughed and pulled her ears even more.

Kids could be really cruel, sometimes.

He didn't give it too much thought; after all, it wasn't his business. He had a whole lot of other things to worry about and was too busy trying not to panic with the possibility of having to live with nomads for the rest of his life. He turned up in the past with no means to come back to the future, and not enough technology to even theorize time travelling.

And to make things worse, he had lost his powers.

That was what almost made him lose his head; Shadow always had his powers. There was no problem that couldn't be solved with a blink. Now, every time he tried to do that, Shadow felt his own body being violently pulled back to the same place, and everything hurt terribly. It was like he had completely lost his connection with Chaos. The emerald he carried seemed to have simply turned off.

At least, his rocket shoes were still working. But they were useless in the snow. Well, almost useless: he was using the flame it created to light up the bonfire.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

"I told you to stay away from me!"

"Why, Big Ears? What are you going to do with us?"

She bit the hand of one of the kids for an answer. The bully screamed and started crying, shaking his hand. The others stopped laughing and faced her. Now they were really mad.

"You're done, Big Ears."

In a huge number disadvantage, she decided to run.

"Don't run, you coward!" She could hear them after her.

 _I'm not fleeing; this is an strategic retreat,_ she thought while running.

Running and looking behind her shoulder, trying to mislead the others, she ended up tripping on someone.

"Hey!"

She stood up, feeling dizzy, and saw herself face to face with a pair of red eyes. And those eyes weren't happy to be awaken so suddenly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He asked, with a husky voice.

Before she could answer, the voices of the other kids got closer. She hid behind a lump of snow, right next to the hedgehog she just tripped onto.

"What the..."

He looked behind after hearing the footsteps. The kids stopped, bumping on themselves, and looked up to him.

Shadow didn't say a word; he just looked back at them, annoyed.

After a moment of awkward silence, the biggest of the group, a polar bear, gathered every inch of courage to finally speak.

"Where's the rabbit?"

Shadow lifted a single eyebrow.

"What rabbit?"

"The… The one who ran away. The one with the ears."

"I did not see any rabbits."

"But we did!" A small black cat screamed at him, with a squeaky voice. "She hid somewhere around here."

Shadow stood up, finally losing his patience. The kids shrunk back, instinctively.

"I would throw to the other side of the camping site any rabbit that ended up disturbing me." He bent down just a little, getting close to the group of kids. They shrunk even more. "It could happen to you."

For another moment of silence, the kids just faced him, not knowing what to say. Then, suddenly, all of them screamed and ran in circles, moving away from him.

He straightened up, yawning.

"Get out of there. Now. When I spoke about throwing you away, I was being serious."

She got out of the lump of snow, her pink nose full of cold white snowflakes. She was tiny, with huge ears that dragged through the floor behind her. The girl had light gray fur, light blue irises and big rodent teeth. She was wearing a poncho, a little bit similar to what Shadow was using, although tattered and a lot older; a pair of brown felt gloves; and walked around barefoot, leaving to show the white marks on her toes. Unlike the other nomads, she didn't look prepared for the cold weather.

And, unlike the other kids, she didn't show any fear upon facing Shadow.

She stopped beside the bonfire, with a frown in her face, and kept looking at him.

"Why were they after you?" Shadow asked.

"They don't like me. Think that I'm weird."

He crossed his arms, not saying anything, but she got it.

"... And I threw Jody's fishing rod in the river. _And_ kicked his shin."

"Hm. The polar bear?"

"Yeah."

"He probably deserved it. Now leave. I must sleep."

"Who are you? I never saw you with the nomads before."

"Not your business."

He sat down again and reached his hands to the fire to warm himself. She sat down beside him, her legs crossed, her huge eyes locked onto Shadow.

"My name is Delilah."

"I didn't ask."

"What's yours?"

He closed his eyes and sighed. _Give me patience,_ _because if you give me strength I'll kill her._

"Shadow. Happy?"

She laughed.

"What a weird name!"

Shadow ignored her. Like it was enough.

"Where do you come from? You're not from around here, are you? Do you always have a frown on your face or are you feeling a stomachache?"

"Ok, enough" He stood up again, pulling her from her ears and dragging her away from his bonfire. "I didn't invite you to sit down with me, I don't want to talk to you, and you annoy me. Stay away from me."

"I'll freeze if I stay away from the fire!"

"And where are your parents to make one for you?"

"I have none!"

"Well, and I didn't sign any adoption papers. _And_ I'm not your baby sitter."

She followed him back to the fire, determined. But didn't sit beside him anymore. Part of Shadow wanted to kick her, but a tiny part of his conscioussness reminded him that she was probably seven years old, and he didn't intend to add "frozen kid in the snow" to the list of things he regretted doing.

"Right. You can stay if you want. But keep quiet. If I wake up in the middle of the night because of you, you'll wake up in the morning turned into a popsicle."

She crossed her arms and pouted.

"You're too boring, Shadow."

"Why do you want my company so much, then?"

She didn't answer. But didn't leave, either.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

He had a vague idea on how to come back, but for that he needed an emerald that actually worked, and didn't even know if that was possible at that point in the past. Judging by the state of his powers, it was likely that the emeralds were useless at that era. But asking around wouldn't hurt, would it?

Well, for him, it would. Shadow wasn't exactly an outgoing person, and besides, he still needed to explain what he was looking for to people that couldn't understand what he wanted, or the urgency of his mission. He asked all the nomads about a faceted and polished stone, "with an edge at its base", and nobody managed to help him. Except for one person.

"I know where is what you're looking for."

The rabbit had followed him everywhere, although only from afar. Everytime he turned back, she hurried for a hideout. It was pathetic. At one point, a woman asked him if he had adopted her, since Delilah was an orphan - to which he responded, rather rudely, that he wasn't a father, nor a baby sitter.

But there she was, and seemed to know the location of an emerald.

"No, you don't."

"Yes I do"

"Haven't I told you to get out of here?"

"You're looking for a shiny rock that looks like an upside-down triangle, aren't you?"

He turned his head so fast that he felt his neck clicking. He hadn't show his useless emerald to anyone yet.

"Ouch! Have you seen…?"

"I did. In the mountains."

She pointed to a huge mountain on the horizon.

"That one, right after the forest."

He stood up to have a better look. The Sun was setting fast, but he was able to see a dark huddle of trees covering the view of the base of the mountain.

"It was green and flashed right on top of a tower inside the mountain. It looked like a lighthouse. None of the nomads wanted to get close; they were scared. So I went by myself. I couldn't get close 'cause I didn't find an entrance, but I climbed on top of a tree to see it. It had a triangle shape and floated by itself in the air.

She couldn't be lying, could she? That was exactly the description of an emerald.

"Then there's where I need to go."

He started walking towards the mountain.

"Wait!" He heard her scream and stopped, feeling vexed.

" _Yes_?"

"You won't be able to get there alone."

"And why not?"

"Because it's hard. There are wild animals, you can get lost. That kind of thing."

"And taking a small annoying bunny with me is the solution, I presume?"

"I can take care of myself out there better than you. You won't last a day by yourself. I watched, you can't even make a proper campfire."

She pointed at the Sun.

"You can't go out in the snow fields in the middle of the night, or else _you_ 'll be the popsicle tomorrow. It's better to leave in the morning."

He crossed his arms angrily.

"Why are you so eager to come with me, after all?"

"I want to leave this place. I want to find somewhere else." She looked down and dragged her feet in the snow, embarassed. "But I can't either. If I go with you, maybe we'll have a chance."

She faced him, her eyes flashing with determination.

"I know that there's a city near the mountain. You can leave me there and go on your way then. I promise I'll be your guide! Please!"

He sighed, pressing his fingers against his closed eyes. Shadow didn't want to drag the girl around. He prided himself for being able to solve his own problems alone. But she was right. The girl knew that region far better than him, and if Shadow had to follow that path by foot, he needed a guide. The rabbit was the only one who volunteered herself - with an interest behind it, but who was he to judge her? Shadow didn't trust people who were too nice. The smartest survived. And that girl was small and annoying - but she was smart.

"Very well, Miss Survivor. You're my guide now. Congratulation. If you take me to the mountain, I'll leave you safe and sound at the city. Deal?"

"Deal."

"But let me make this clear" He approached her, bending down to stand face to face with the girl. "If I go to that mountain and find out that there is no emerald, I'll come back to get you. And there will be _nothing_ left of you to tell the story when I'm done. Are we clear?"

She didn't move. Not even blinked.

"Got it."


	2. Hang-Glider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's like Donkey Kong, but with no bananas!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like this chapter a lot. It's just funny and stupid I love writing stupid
> 
> Here's the song! I think it's a Taylor Swift one. I don't know, I don't remember.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLf9q36UsBk

Shadow regretted almost immediately after making the deal with the little girl.

The was noisy and talkative, and didn't seem to lose energy in any moment. Shadow had friends, but they were a lot more like him.

Delilah was the exact opposite of Shadow.

When he finally managed to sleep, the Sun decided to show up almost immediately after. But in the end, even sleepy and annoyed, Shadow finally saw himself doing some progress, after all. He was moving, even at a slow pace. Maybe she was lying. Maybe she mistook the emerald for something else. But between staying with the nomads and leaving to look for a solution for his problem, Shadow would gladly endure the chatty rabbit for a little while.

Travelling through an unknown region, with no powers, on foot, with a seven year old rodent as a guide. This was going to be a breeze.

The unknown region, by the way, had the weirdest climate he ever witnessed. In a moment they were struggling to keep themselves warm in the cold; as they got to a winding valley, however, the weather grew hotter and hotter, until Shadow took out his own poncho and tied it onto his shoulder, building an improvised bag to keep the few things he was carrying - the emerald and the flint stones that Delilah used to make fire.

When they finally reached the valley, the Sun was already setting. Shadow looked down, and found out that it was in fact a canyon, red and dusty.

And they had to descend. It seemed like a huge detour, but avoiding the canyon would be worse. So, they descended.

"I hope you know where you are going, rabbit."

"Name's Delilah! And I know where I'm going, _porcupine_." She retorted, with a sarcasm that didn't match her appearance and age.

"I am not a porcupine."

"And I'm not a rabbit. I'm a hare."

He didn't bother to keep the discussion going. The less she spoke, the better.

When they got to the bottom, Shadow noticed it wasn't a canyon.

"Look how many caves!" The hare shouted, running through the area.

"Those are mines" Shadow corrected her, blankly, frowning. A mining site? Maybe he didn't travel that far in the past, after all. Maybe he had a chance of finding his way through time.

As if the weather decided to mock him, it started to rain. He ran to the closest entrance, his arms covering his head, with Delilah right behind him.

"Are we setting up the camp here?" She asked, walking around the cave. "Look! What are those things?"

"We can't travel during this rain in the dark. We have to wait. And those are probably mining tools."

He had crouched to gather some wood for the bonfire. As he stood up, Shadow saw Delilah laughing and running around with a mining helmet on her head. The helmet was so big that it covered her huge eyes.

"I can't see a thing! Hold on, lemme guess where you are." She tripped on her own ears almost immediately, and fell on top of a pile of rusted pickaxes. "I'm okay! Wait, what's this?"

He sighed. Shadow had no energy to deal with her.

“Those are pickaxes. Take this helmet off before you break those giant teeth of yours.”

“You’re the one who has big teeth!” Shadow heard her yell back at him while he tried to light the fire with a pair of flints, just like he saw her do it, with no success.

 _I can’t believe I’ll have to ask for help to a small bunny_ , he thought.

“Hey, look! A cart!”

He tried again. Some sparks came out, but no fire.

He heard a weird clang, followed by a low and metallic noise, but didn’t give it too much though.

Tried again.

Nothing.

“Delilah, can you come here for a second?”

Silence.

“Delilah?” Shadow raised his head. He saw the cart’s shadow going down the rails, before disappearing in the ramp. A fainting “Weeeee!” could be heard across the cave.

“DELILAH!”

He ran towards the rails and managed do barely see the cart descending in alarming speed, disappearing in the darkness. Her ears flew behind her, almost like a trail for Shadow to follow.

 _There goes my guide_ , he thought, and went after her. He was completely lost there; if they got separated, he’d lose any chance of going back.

Oh, yeah. She could get hurt, too.

Delilah had slipped head first into the mining cart, and her weight was enough to push it down the tunnel. It took her a while to notice, and when she finally felt the movement, it didn’t seem like a big deal.

“Very funny, Shadow, pushing me down the cave.” Delilah struggled to get up, feeling the cart going faster. She looked back and then noticed she was alone.

“Delilah!” She heard the scream far away, and could see Shadow running on top of a  precarious platform on top of the cave, following the cart easily with his speed.

“Hi! Look at me, I’m a miner!” She waved happily, loving the fact that the cart still worked.

“If you die there, I’ll kill you!” He yelled at her, sliding rapidly with his skates, trying to get close to the cart that only got faster and faster. He heard the hare’s laugh and felt his blood boil in anger.

“Don’t be silly, you can’t kill a person twice! Ouch!” The cart shook violently while going down a steep ramp and she had to hold herself not to fall down.

“You’d be surprised!” He yelled back, not even knowing why he was arguing with her. When he got to see the cart again, his heart stopped for a second - the tracks were blocked by wooden boards at the entrance of the next tunnel. It was a huge chamber, full of rubbish, and Delilah was at an unstoppable speed - and she was going to hit the boards hard.

Thinking fast, Shadow looked around, searching for something that could open the path. There were some wood logs on his platform, hanged by ropes on the ceiling. If he could make the logs fall from the platform, they would act as a pendulum, and maybe he’d break the barrier.

But if he got the timing wrong, it would end up hitting her.

Well, _he_ had nothing to lose.

With his back against the wall, right behind the logs, he pushed them with his feet. They moved slowly, really slowly, and he kept pushing, and the cart kept moving…

In a last push, the logs came down and broke the barrier before Delilah went through. It almost hit her as it swung back, but the hare went down the path safely.

But then, the tunnel collapsed, and Shadow got stuck on the other side.

Judging by the sound of the cart (and Delilah singing happily), he knew that the girl was ok, but now he needed another path. He ran around the chamber until he found a smaller tunnel, with no rails, and went through it, hoping that all those paths ended in the same place.

The tunnel was craggy, full of turns, and was poorly constructed. He vaguely registered the pulleys hanging from the ceiling (probably to carry heavier materials) and just kept running.

Shadow almost fell face-first on the floor: the tunnel ended abruptly, right on top of the rails.

Despite the tortuous path, he managed to arrive before Delilah’s cart. Not thinking too much about his own actions, Shadow grabbed a hook clinging from a pulley on top of him and got down, throwing himself at the right moment to fall inside the cart.

“What the hell were you thinking?” He asked, trying to stand still in the cart.

“You caught up with me! You really are fast, aren’t you?”

“I wish I didn’t need to run like this to save your life!”

“Save my life??? I had everything under control!”

He raised an eyebrow and turned Delilah’s head with the tips of his fingers, just so she could look right towards the path they were going.

“You had _this_ under control?”

The rails just stopped. Right there, abruptly. Right at the edge of a pitfall.

“Ah... maybe…”

He let out a tsc, impatiently, and then grabbed her hand, ready to jump off the wagon. At that exact moment, one of the wheels crashed in a flaw on the rails, and the cart shook violently. It wasn’t enough to derail, but Shadow lost his balance and fell back to the wagon’s floor. He fought to stand up again, tangled on Delilah’s gigantic ears…

He stood up again and, still holding her hand, jumped.

Unfortunately, it was too late. The cart was already falling. He saw the end of the line, a little bit above them, so close, but a jump wasn’t enough to reach the edge safely.

“No…!” He thought, and tried instinctively to teleport up. For a second, he sighed in relief; he could see the floor right below him, and still felt the girl's hand firmly held onto his. But as they were still in the air, he felt a sudden pain trespass his skull; his fingers began to tingle and he felt like a hook was pulling back his stomach. Shadow grunted, closing his eyes. Opening them again, still dizzy from the pain, he found out they were back at the same place before; falling down the pit, now with Delilah floating on top of him, still holding his hand.

Back to square one. They were going down.

"What a ridiculous way to die", he thought. Nothing like the "death" he had at the first time…

He vaguely registered the hare's ears expanding to the sides - his head hurt so much. Delilah was floating…

With a sudden break, he felt his body stop, his arm hanging from something he couldn't see. Instead of falling, now they were gliding smoothly in a spiral towards the floor.

"Give me your other hand!" He heard Delilah scream at the bottom of his brain. With a push, Shadow threw his free arm upwards, and felt the girl's small fingers hold onto his. Using her gigantic ears as a not-so-aerodynamic hang-glider, Delilah could prevent them from turning into pancakes at the bottom of the pit.

At last, they got to the floor, in a surprisingly firm landing. The cart laid destroyed beside them, its iron structure all twisted and broken.

She landed on her feet, right beside Shadow, and her ears floated down at her both sides, as big and clumsy as ever.

"I didn't know you could fly with those."

"Meh, only glide. I told you I had everything under control!"

"Right… You really had."

Shadow sat down on the floor and put his head between his knees. The headache was so strong that he was starting to feel nauseous.

"Are you ok?"

"I… Just need a minute."

Everything got dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're not hating my characterizations. I was really afraid of being too out of character, and it was hard to think of a way to give a weakness to a character that supposedly has none.
> 
> Yeah yeah she looks like Cream with Bugs Bunny's color pallete I don't care leave me alone


	3. The Shortcut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's like Tarzan, but with no gorillas! We have an ape trend going on here I see

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the ending of this one. It's so light-hearted <3
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKCGBgOgp08

The bonfire's flickering light shone gently through his eyelids, turning his vision bright red. At first, he kept his eyes shut. He could feel the headache's small trace poking him between the eyes, and feared that the light only made things worse. Before awakening, Shadow turned to the other side, and then slowly opened his eyes.

The fire illuminated the uneven walls of the cave, and some rubble at the corner strongly reflected the light. It took him a while until he figured those were the mining cart's last remains - he was still at the bottom of the mine.

Shadow sat down, letting his vision get used to the light. Rubbed his eyes. He was a little better, but still felt exhausted and painful. Shadow could never get sick, but he wondered if this was what it felt like.

Looking around, he could see a small furball that was Delilah. Shadow finally understood why she wasn't bothered by the cold that much: the hare rolled herself in her own ears to sleep. Curled up and quiet like she was, almost made him forget how annoying and hyperactive she was during the day.

Apparently, she made the bonfire and organized the whole camp when he lost consciousness. Smart kid.

Since she was quiet for a change, he stood up to explore their surroundings. Shadow needed to see if there were an exit somewhere; the fall was too great, and going back from where they came was out of the picture. He felt a little dizzy as he got up too fast; leaning by the wall with his hand, he got the emerald from the improvised bag beside him and looked at it one more time.

It was the yellow one, and normally it would shine intensely when he grabbed it with his hand. This time, however, although it still maintained the usual color, its glow was so dim that it looked more like a piece of fake jewelry. Shadow didn't understand why. It was working just fine before the accident with the time machine. He wondered if the chaos energy was different in the past, or if the emerald was so weak because it was at the wrong time… One thing was certain: he couldn't afford losing consciousness again. He had to avoid trying to use Chaos Control as much as possible. It was going to be a hell of a trip.

Shadow walked slowly, following the wall's perimeter, until he found a gap where daylight was shining through. It was broad enough to let him pass, even though he needed to squeeze himself a little. Shadow looked back to the campfire, making sure Delilah was still asleep.

The little girl took over the situation when he had lost control, and ended up saving both of them. If it wasn’t for the fact that  _ she _ was the one who dragged them into trouble, he would be more impressed.

Even then, Shadow couldn’t deny it: the hare was a survivor.

_ Smart kid. _

He left through the gap.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

She opened her eyes slowly, feeling like her eyelids were glued to each other, and closed them again. It was too comfortable there. Her ears were exceptionally warm and, for the first time in days she wasn’t sleeping at some place beaten by the wind. The cave was dark and quiet. It’s been so long since she slept at some place like this…

It was the silence that disturbed her. In a camp, even when everyone was asleep, it was possible to hear their breathing, if not a snore or two. Delilah knew she wasn’t alone, and nevertheless, she couldn’t hear a sound.

She opened her eyes.

Delilah was facing the almost burned out campfire; a faint trace of warmth emanated from the embers. She could see the cart on the other side of the cave, and some rocks here and there, but that was it.

She stood up abruptly. her heart racing. Where was Shadow?

“He abandoned me. I knew he was going to do that.”

She went through the cave, hurrying to see if he didn’t just decided to sleep at some isolated corner of the pit. She was abandoned. Her ears burnt in the embers as she ran down the cave. She promised to help him, and he left her behind! Delilah stopped, holding her ears in her arms, the ashes of the bonfire behind her back, screaming to herself.

“He left me here, he left me here, he left me here! That liar, phony, truthless porcupine…”

She turned around and saw herself facing Shadow, kicking the ashes on the ground to make sure there was no fire left. She let go of her ears, gaping, and felt her face hotter with embarrassment.

“I’m not a porcupine” he repeated, uninterested, dusting the ashes from his shoes. “But I won’t argue about the rest.”

He threw an apple towards her, and Delilah caught it in the air.

“Nice catch. There’s a path right outside the mines. It follows down the river, but I don’t know if it’s the right way. I suppose so, since the river goes through a forest. We need to get through the forest to reach the mountains, correct?

“Y-Yes.”

“Can we go, then? Or do you still need to yell by yourself at the cave for a little while?” He gestured towards the gap from where he came from.

“No! I’m ok.” She bit the apple, just to have something to do with her hands. Her big teeth made a huge mark on the fruit. “Leffs go” she said, her mouth full of apple, spitting everything as she talked. “Oh, and fanks for the apple” She added, walking towards the gap.

“...You’re welcome.”

They both went through the crack on the wall and left into the daylight. The air felt fresher at that side of the mines; the presence of trees and the overflowing river lowered the temperature and made the climate more humid.

"Don't you eat?" Delilah asked, pointing to the apple.

"I am not hungry."

"You haven't eaten in days! I noticed."

_ Too observant _ , he thought.

"Let's say I don't need to eat as often."

_ "Why'g'not?"  _ She asked, her mouth full of apple once more.

Shadow sighed. He wasn't very fond of explaining stuff to her.

"It doesn't really matter. It's just one less thing to worry about, don't you think?

She shrugged, swinging her huge ears.

"Ok. You're really weird, y'know?"

"I am not the one carrying two blankets on top of my head."

She frowned. Apparently, Delilah didn't like when people mocked her ears. It wasn't actually Shadow's intention to hurt her feelings - he was just teasing her back - but now he didn't know what to say to fix things either.  He opted to stay silent.

It was a pleasant day: the sky was clear, with no clouds, and the presence of trees improved their humor a lot. Shadow could not help but notice, however, that the trees' leaves looked dry and brittle, and their trunks had a gray tone. It was like the woods were really sick. They could see the mountains far away, but in a few minutes of walking, the forest got densier, making it really difficult for them to see where to go.

"I'll see if I can get a sight of the mountains from the top of those trees!" Delilah screamed, had already forgotten about Shadow's commentary. She climbed fast, disappearing between the leaves.

"Hey, don't go too far!" He yelled, trying to see where she had gone to.  _ I don't need another mining cart situation _ , he thought, grumpy as ever.

He laid his back at the tree's trunk and crossed his arms, poking a fallen leaf with his foot. He wasn't very used to do things that way. If he could use Chaos, most of his problems were already solved at that point. Walking around like this was… Too slow.

Well, would you look at that. Who did he resemble, thinking like that?

And speaking about slow… Delilah was taking a lot more time than expected to get down from the trees. Or had he lost track of time?

"Delilah?"

No answer.

"Delilah!"

Nothing.

Shadow huffed, exasperated. He grabbed the closest branch on top of him and started to climb.

He found her easily - or, at least, part of her: as he climbed, her ears appeared on his sigh, all hanging on different branches. Shaking his head, resigned, Shadow followed the trail of fluff.

"Delilah, what is taking you so..." He immediately understood why she hasn't come down yet, when his head finally reached the tree top.

It was a breathtaking vision. The Sun was still close to the horizon, and the sky had a really light color, with soft green tones near the mountains. The mount where they were heading popped up right in the middle, big and majestic, and a sea of pine trees spread out in front of them. At the mountains' base, looking like it was made of toys, they could see the city Delilah mentioned.

"Wow." Shadow heard her whisper. He stood there, silent, enjoying the view with her. It was really beautiful, even with the unhealthy trees adding a bittersweet tone to the landscape.

"Is that the city?" He asked, after a while.

"Yes!" She exclaimed, turning to him. "And that's the mountain with the glowing stone." We're closer than ever before! The detour we took on those caves turned out to be a shortcut!"

Shadow blinked, surprised, and looked back at the mountain again. Surely, it looked a lot bigger than when they entered the canyon.

"You are right" He admitted, reluctantly. "You almost got us killed, but at least we are on the right way."

"I told you I was a good guide, didn't I?"

"A good guide wouldn't put the life of tourists in danger, Delilah."

"What's a tourist?" She inclined her head, confused.

"It's… Ah, well, it doesn't matter. I believe they will probably exist only years later, anyway. It's better if we get down, now."

"I'M THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD!!!" Delilah screamed, suddenly, putting her arms on top of her head and startling him; then, she lost balance and simply vanished from the tree top.

"Delilah!" Shadow exclaimed, dropping down quickly and grabbing her from the ears, before she reached the floor. He lifted her up and put her on top of the big trunk he was standing, in front of him.

"Are you crazy? You could have broken at least three bones If I didn't manage to pick you up."

Delilah wasn't looking at him. She looked at a point behind his shoulder, and for the first time since they met each other, she seemed really scared.

"What is it?"

She pointed, her hand shaking uncontrollably. He turned back.

Baboons. A whole pack of them. Not the type that talked, like Shadow and Delilah; the wild ones. They screeched and growled, showing their sharp fangs, and didn't weren't very happy with the territory invasion.

"Stand behind me" Shadow whispered, putting his hand in front of the girl.

"Shadow, it's no use..."

He looked back; they were surrounded. There were more baboons right behind the tree where they stood.

"We have to get out of here..." She muttered.

"Climb on my back" He ordered, urgently. She didn't object. When he felt she was secure, Shadow jumped.

It was a chained reaction - immediately, a wave of baboons went after them. Shadow landed swiftly on the floor and slided with his skates through the forest's uneven ground, avoiding trees and jumping over their big roots. Delilah's weight hindered his speed a little, but sooner he started to hear their noses decrease as Shadow gained distance between them and the pack. "They can't reach me", he thought, triumphantly.

Shadow celebrated too soon. He felt a jolt, and Delilah suddenly disappeared from his back. He stopped, skidding a little, hearing her screams, and turned back to see what happened.

One of the baboons managed to grab Delilah from the ears and brutally pull her. She got dragged through the forest's ground, but before Shadow could react, she defended herself: putting her feet firmly on the floor, she made a powerful jump, landing right on the baboon's face. The animal fell, and Delilah used the momentum to jump back to Shadow, landing right beside him, holding her ears close.

"Let's go!" She shouted. He grabbed her and ran. They could hear the river's flow again, and sooner they were running alongside its margin, following the powerful stream of water.

The baboons managed to keep up with Shadow, and they were surrounded again. Even though he was fast, the uneven ground hindered him a lot - he depended on his shoes to maintain speed, and with too many tree roots in the way, it was almost impossible to be as fast. Furthermore, the margin's soil got too muddy with the overflowing river.

"Delilah, hold on to me."

"What are you gonna do?"

He didn't answer, but simply got closer to the river.

"Shadow..."

"I'll count to three!"

A baboon jumped towards them. He lowered his head, and the animal fell on the water, screaming.

"One..."

"Wait!"

"Two..."

"The water's too strong!"

"Three!"

He jumped into the river.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

Even underwater, the noise was too high and confusing - but instead of feral screams, Shadow could only hear the water flowing through his ears. The powerful stream almost separated him from Delilah, but Shadow managed to grab her hand before she was thrown onto the rocks at the bottom. He tried rising to the surface to grab on something, but the river was deeper than he thought - he was dragged to the bottom, and the only thing he could do was keep his fingers thightly around Delilah's wrist.

Shadow put his free hand upwards, searching for something to hold onto. He was losing air fast, and didn't know if the girl was a good swimmer, either. For all he knew, she could have already lost consciousness, and he wouldn't even notice.

The stream pulled him down again, but this time he managed to lay his feet in a big rock. Fighting the current, he propelled himself upwards and, finally, grabbed the margin with one hand, while the other lifted Delilah from the river. He felt relief upon hearing her cough and spit water everywhere.

She clawed the margin beside him and dragged herself into the land, giving her hands to Shadow to help him get out, too. Shadow accepted the help gladly and, together, both of them drew as much distance as possible from the river, searching for drier ground. They laid down, panting strongly, looking to the sky, too exhausted to speak. The woods were quiet again. The baboons were finally left behind.

They spent a long time there, hearing each other's heavy breath, until Shadow saw Delilah's soaked brown glove enter his field of vision, pointing somewhere.

"There… The mountain."

He turned his head to see where she was pointing to. They were even closer to the big mount, with some trees here and there on the way. He turned his head back to the girl and saw her already sitting, squeezing her ears to get rid of the water on her fur. An enormous amount of liquid flowed through the ground, soaking Shadow's back, but he was so wet already that it didn't matter.

"That was the craziest thing I've ever done" She mentioned, wagging her head and spraying even more water.

"I can't say the same."

She stood up, twisted her poncho, walked to Shadow's other side to get away from the giant puddle and threw herself on the floor again, her arms open, her head close to his.

"At least we found a shortcut, right?" She said, casually, looking at the mountain.

Shadow turned his head towards her abruptly, disgruntled.

_ "Shortcut?" _

She laughed. He kept facing her, incredulous, but couldn't hold himself. Looking at the sky, he laughed, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trivia: I hate Web formatting. I wish Archive Of Our Own had formatting like a Word/Google Docs document. It's so more pleasant than this!
> 
> Anyway, here's Shadow showing a little bit of emotion. Just a little. A pinch, if you like. HE'S TOO HAAARD


	4. Embers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Ah so that's why it's called Bonfire! 50% of the story is spent around one! That's so boring thank you!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's name has a lot more impact in portuguese. But "Embers" sounds cool, too.
> 
> I don't know if I like this one, but at least it shows a little bit more of Delilah's thoughts and personality. Not that you wanted to see that anyway.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85jsqArcTU8

"You can laugh! I thought it was impossible for ya!"

"Very funny. You're the one who laughs at everything. Too much laughing is a sign of despair."

"And not laughing at all, is a sign of what? Because whatever it is, it's what you are."

They had spent the rest of the day walking towards the mountain, which was farther than they thought. The day went on with no bigger incidents: the duo only followed the river's course, still too tired to trade more than a few words with each other. In fact, the only reason they were walking was to increase as much distance as possible from the pack of baboons that attacked them. Shadow only agreed to stop so Delilah could pick up some berries to eat on the way. He ate some, too, if only to have something to do, since he wasn't hungry.

At last, night came over them, and both decided it was better to stop and rest. None of them wanted to admit, but after all they went through, sitting by the bonfire seemed like heaven.

Now, they were walking through the forest of sick and brittle trees, gathering wood to make the campfire they so much needed.

"I'll teach you how to make fire."

"I don't need that."

"And what if those shoes of yours stop working? How are you going to light a fire?"

"They will never stop working."

"You need to learn how to survive in the wild, Shadow!!!"

He sighed, resigned.

"If I let you teach, will you stop bothering me?

"Maybe."

She walked fast between the trees, grabbing branches and analysing them, before throwing the chosen ones at the growing pile on Shadow's arms. When it was enough, they chose a place to set up camp.

Delilah was pretty skilled at that; they didn’t have tents or anything to use as shelter, but she had chosen a glade where the treetops made a natural roof to protect them. She also made sure to get rid of any rocks and leaves that could hurt or disturb them, and placed the firewood nicely really fast. Then, she sat down in front of the unlit bonfire, holding a small dry branch on her hand and gestured at Shadow for him to sit down with her. Reluctantly, he sat with his legs crossed below him, watching her actions carefully.

“What you need is to create friction between this branch and the firewood” Delilah explained, holding up the branch right on top of the wood, firmly secure between her palms. “If you make enough friction at the right speed, the firewood will start to burn. It won’t work if the wood is not dry, ok?”

“Right.”

She handed the branch to him.

“Me?”

“You can only learn if you do it by yourself.”

Shadow faced her, a little bit upset, and took the tiny stick from her hand. It was really dry, and soon he noticed small bits of barbs sticking on his gloves. Shadow leaned over the wood pile and put the stick the same way Delilah showed him, holding it between his palms. Then, he rubbed them, twisting and friccioning the branch on the wood below it. When he began to think it was a waste of time and effort, a tiny ember flicked from the stick.

“That’s it! Wait, don’t move the stick” She added, when Shadow tried to move away. She reached her face closer to the firewood and blew it lightly, to help spread the fire.

Soon, they had a bonfire.

“See! Not that hard.”

“It really isn’t. Did you learn it by yourself?”

“More or less. My parents always lit the bonfire before, but then I had to do it myself.”

Delilah sat down in front of the fire, retracting herself by embracing her own knees. She stood in silence for a second (that seemed to be her silence limit), then turned her big eyes to Shadow.

“Where did ya come from?”

She was asking it for the second time already. Shadow didn’t see a reason to hold this information from her anymore: it didn’t really matter if she believed in him or not. Sooner or later, they’d go on separate ways, anyway.

“I came from the future.” He noticed how ridiculous that phrase sounded, and cleared out his throat a little. “Me and my team were studying a way to make long trips through time and space. I volunteered myself to test the machine, but the idea was to launch myself only a few minutes into the future. However, something went wrong, and I ended up here.”

He frowned, thinking.  _ If they were trying to send me into the future, how come did I end up in the past? _

Delilah kept looking at Shadow, exactly at the same position, those huge and innocent eyes facing him relentlessly.

“Liar” She said, lastly. But it didn’t seem like she was accusing Shadow. She just wanted to make him speak more.

“Believe it or not, it was what happened.”

“And will the shiny stone help you come back? Back to the future?”

“It’s a theory.”

She raised her head, looking at him. Delilah seemed utterly fascinated. Then, the girl gave him a big smile.

“You’ll make it! You’ll come back to your team and tell’em that the machine works. And you’ll tell’em that I helped you, and maybe I’ll become famous!”

He unwillingly smiled.

“I’ll think about that.”

Shadow grabbed a long stick beside him and poked the fire casually.

“What about you? Where did you come from?” He finally asked her.

She was looking to her own feet, moving her little toes, and got surprised by his question. She lifted her head, her ears waving beside her face.

“Me? I never left the nomad tribe before.”

Delilah faced the fire, blankly, embracing her knees again.

“But I used to travel with my parents. One day, We at an accident at the… At the frozen lake. I managed to get out with the help of the other travelers, but my parents couldn’t make it.

She had frowned, and Shadow wondered if Delilah was beginning to cry. To his surprise, however, she suddenly stood up, looking furious.

“It wasn’t my fault, ok? I tried to go back!” She yelled, walking around the bonfire and Shadow, stomping the floor in anger and gesturing. “The nomads held me when I tried to help! I swear, I wanted to save them! I wanted to do something, I wanted to pull them back, I could have tried… I could have jumped, I can jump really high, did you know?! If I did…”

She sat down again, brutally pulling her ears, too angry to be sad. She wasn’t mad at Shadow, neither at the nomads. She was mad at herself.

“They sank because they were trying to save me first. If it wasn’t for this, they would still be here.

She faced the fire again, with glazed eyes, and then turned to Shadow, still holding her ears.

“I tried, ok?! I tried!”

“I believe in you.”

She faced him for a while, then retracted herself again, staring back at the fire.

“People think that I left my parents alone.”

“ _ That _ is harder to believe.”

“What do you mean?”

He stared at her.

“I don’t believe anyone would blame a seven year old girl for a tragic accident like this one.”

“Seven  _ and a half _ .”

“Very well. But I can assure there’s no one judging you. You are the one beating yourself for what happened.”

He avoided her stare to face the fire, watching the embers dance with the smoke in front of him, letting his memories flow freely on his mind.

“But there was nothing you could do. We can’t take control over everything that happen on our lives. Some things simply… Happen.”

Both of them stood in complete silence for a long time, lost in thought. It was Delilah who brought Shadow back from his stupor, asking with an almost fading voice.

“Who was it?”

“My sister.”

She nodded and hushed, looking to her own toes again. Shadow only moved when he saw her yawn broadly.

“Very well, I think it’s time for you to sleep.”

“But I don’t whaaaaaaaaaaawn…”

“Yes you do. Come on, Delilah, I won’t be carrying you all the way tomorrow.”

“You don’t need to eat, but do you need sleep?”

“Not really, but I can’t stare at fire all night, can I?”

“Well, no. That would be creepy.”

She rolled herself with her head leaned on a rock, looking like an ear burrito. Shadow leaned his back on a tree on the other side of the bonfire and heard her yawn again.

“Good night, Shadow…” Delilah whispered, her eyes getting heavier and heavier.

Shadow didn’t answer right away. A thousand thoughts went through his head and he started thinking that, maybe, they weren’t so different after all.

“Good night, survivor.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Ear burrito" is the best description I'll ever write in my whole life.


	5. The Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh damn, are we in the future already? Or is this just a fancy house decoration store?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was hard to write, and even harder to translate. Heavy descriptions all around, it's hard to find synonyms in English, etc.
> 
> But now we get to see what is happening to the world!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnypaKhr7FY

She could see the village right below them, right in the middle of the valley.

Delilah had stored energy since she woke up, and spent the whole walk towards the mountains running through the trail, with Shadow walking peacefully right behind her. She ran, picking pale flowers from the grass, jumping over big tree roots, and that’s how she was the first to arrive at the point where the path started going downwards. And she could see the village - ruins of what was a big city before, with few citizens here and there.

They were parting ways soon.

“Is this the city?” She heard the deep voice of her… Could she call Shadow a “friend”? They surely treated each other a lot more friendly than when their journey started, but Delilah wasn’t sure if they got fond of each other or if it was just a case of growing tolerance.

Delilah never had close friends before, so she didn’t know how it was to have one. Maybe it was exactly like that.

“Yeah. Me and the nomads passed here when we were travelling.”

She pointed to a bifurcation on the path that circumvented the huge mountain instead of going down.

“That way you’ll find the tower with the shiny stone. I could only see it by climbing on a tree, but there must be a way in somewhere.”

He nodded, looking at the direction she was pointing to. They just stood there for a while, looking at their assigned destinies; Shadow stared at the mountain, and Delilah at the village.

“What are you planning to do when you get there?” She heard him ask, all of a sudden. For the first time, it sounded like a sincere question. Like he was really worried.

“Dunno. I’ll probably offer help to the people working there. People like helpers. I’ll fit in.”

“Right.”

Shadow looked at his path one more time. Then, he turned to her again, looking a little bit uncomfortable.

“Well, you… You fulfilled your promise.”

“And you fulfilled yours. Thanks!”

She gestured for a handshake. He accepted the gesture, giving his hand to hers.

“Good luck, Delilah.”

“Good luck, Shadow! I hope you come back to your future!”

“Yes. I hope so, too.”

And, with a last handwave, Shadow turned away from her, and started climbing his own path.

  
  
  
  


Delilah arrived at the village when the Sun was at its peak. She could have gotten there earlier, but the girl stopped at each five steps to look back. When she finally got to the city, Delilah took a last look at the mountain. She could see a faint green glow, too faint, since the Sun was bright at that weather. That was where Shadow was headed. He’d get the stone and, who knew how, travel back to his own time. And Delilah would go on with her life.

Jumping from home to home, a lonely nomad.

Only a survivor.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

The walk towards the mountain was even more exhausting than he thought. Shadow slided with his shoes for a while, now that he didn’t need to go along with anyone, but it was such a steep path, and not every part of the trail was good enough to accelerate. Shadow didn’t get tired that easily, but the walk was too boring and slow. 

When the Sun was already too high and heating his head, Shadow saw the green glow reflecting on the trees that flanked the track. Remembering what Delilah had said to him, Shadow decided to climb on a tree before continuing his walk, just to see exactly where the emerald was. He got on a pine tree easily and reached for the top.

When he turned to face where the glow was coming from, he almost fell down, startled.

It was a green stone, shiny and pointy, yes; it didn’t really have the shape of a chaos emerald, but he could feel the energy emanating from it. It wasn’t the stone what startled Shadow, however, but where it was kept.

It was a circular room, big, made of concrete. Its round walls were painted in white. The stone floated gently on a pedestal in the middle of the room. Shadow could see everything due to the fact that the room had a giant glass window facing the outside of the mountain.

He wasn’t expecting such a sophisticated building like that one in the middle of a mountain, let alone  _ in the past _ .

He got down from the pine tree, getting back on track, and ran, looking for an entrance that would get him inside. He thought about breaking the window, but something told him that the tower was heavily guarded. If he broke the glass and got attacked by a security system, it would be at least really naive of him, specially coming from a government’s secret agent.

The trail ended abruptly on a curve, and that was no other way of going upwards, unless he climbed the mountain itself. Shadow was about to do exactly that, when he noticed some trees that were definitely greener and healthier than any other he had seen; beautiful, bright, flashy… When he held them in his hand, it became obvious for Shadow that they were made of plastic. In a region where all the leaves looked ugly and brittle, only fake plant would look like that.

He started to think that he entered a teleport machine by mistake, instead of a time one. It didn't seem like he has traveled to the past at all.

Shadow groped the mountain's wall, beyond the plastic leaves, until he found an opening. Carefully, he got closer, entering a dark tunnel.

Darkness was so great that he needed to lean on the walls to keep walking, while maintaining the other hand right in front of him. Shadow stopped when he felt a smooth surface on his fingers up ahead. He groped slowly, feeling the wall's texture, until he found a gap in the middle. He had a vague suspicion about what was that, but Shadow needed to take a better look to confirm his thoughts. He took the yellow emerald from the improvised bag - it was dim, but had enough light to let him see what was on the wall.

It was an automatic door made of concrete - the gap in the middle was where the two halves met each other.

Right in the center, divided between the doors, he could see the red symbol depicting an evil face with a huge mustache.

His bloodstream froze, and his heart almost went through his mouth. Shadow didn't get it. He was so certain that was the past, until he found that mountain… How did he find one of Eggman's bases right there?! Was the machine's malfunction part of an evil plan of his? Was that really a time machine  _ at all _ ?

Shadow fit his fingers between the gap, and tried to move the doors. To his surprise, they moved easily, considering that it was probably a high security base. With a strong push, he moved them away enough to pass through.

The base's indoors was even darker than the tunnel behind him. Holding the emerald as high as he could, struggling to see anything, Shadow took a step.

The emergency lights turned on.

Shadow halted, concerned that he activated an alarm, but nothing happened. Apparently, the lights only turned on due to movement sensors. Slowly, putting the emerald down, he walked through the room, looking around. Shadow was in a big, broad and white corridor, with a red carpet on the floor. Well, at least it seemed red: there was so much dust that it looked almost gray. Each step made small clouds of dust behind him, and his nose itched insistently. Rubbing his face to get rid of the dust, Shadow moved on.

The feeling of abandonment was incessant. He found a lot of left opened rooms, some shattered windows, broken badniks on the floor. Shadow wondered if that wasn't some sort of well elaborated trap, but Doctor Eggman wouldn't make traps like those. He was too loud for that.

He passed through an opened portal and found himself in a big control room, with a door on the left that led to another corridor. On his right, he could see a big panel full of cracked monitors and loose buttons, in front of a huge glass wall. On the other side, in a launch platform, stood an enormous rocket.

Shadow got close to the glass wall, trying to take a better look. It was the biggest rocket he had ever seen, even though he used to live on a space colony. It was white and red, like the rest of the base, and seemed to be the only thing in perfect conditions there.

Why did Doctor Eggman need such a big rocket?

He moved away from the wall and went through the other corridor. It was short, and at its end stood two doors: one was an elevator, and the other led to staircase.

Of course the elevator didn't work. In fact, he was surprised to see electric energy on the tower at all, judging by its poor state.

Shadow climbed up the circular stairs. Each floor had a window that led to the rocket, with a broken control panel. He climbed every flight of stairs, finally reaching the top. Obviously, that was the main panel: the center of the wall that led to the rocket had a bridge connecting the control panel to the spaceship. It was where the pilot would board, if the rocket happened to be launched. Shadow sighed, feeling relief - he feared it to be a bomb instead.

He walked towards the ship's entrance, and looked inside. The wall was also made of glass, and let him see on the inside perfectly. Shadow could see a cylindrical cabin, full of papers scraps scattered on its panel. It was designed to act more like a capsule than a ship, since it was on the vertical instead of horizontal.

Shadow moved away and noticed that, on the other side of the control panel, there was another corridor. He went through it, leaving the rocketship behind. He didn't plan on getting back to space so soon.

The corridor seemed less abandoned than the other rooms in the tower, but it was possible to see deactivated badniks here and there. Shadow went through the whole corridor's length, until he reached another big glass door, with the scientist's symbol plastered in the middle. It looked a lot like an office's entrance. Carefully, Shadow slided one half to the side, and got in.

That was clearly the doctor's office. It had a beautiful bright red carpet (now incredibly dusty), its computers and equipment were a lot more technologically advanced, and it had fine decoration - no one could deny that doctor Eggman had good taste, after all.

At the center, on top of a pedestal, protected by a glass dome, laid the green shiny stone.

Carefully, fearing some sort of trap, Shadow advanced, looking around the room. The office was a lot more well maintained than the rest of the tower, and that made him nervous. Had someone been keeping it clean? If that was the case, it wasn't doing a really good job - The carpet was as dirty as the ones on the corridors.

He neared the stone. It wasn't an emerald, at least not a whole one; it was a fragment of the Master Emerald. That explained why Shadow's emerald didn't have any energy left - the Master Emerald probably got shattered a long time ago, and that unbalanced the power of the other emeralds. But it still glowed strongly - if Shadow managed to use the Chaos inside it somehow, maybe he could go back.

Go back to where? Was he even in the past after all? Why was that tower abandoned? Why did Doctor Eggman build a launching platform to space right there? And why wasn't he in the tower?

Shadow couldn't leave with no answers. He neared the scientist's computers and analysed the buttons. He wasn't sure if the tower had enough power to turn on the system, but he understood the Doctor enough to know that he probably had a plan B for those situations. The plan B was called "solar energy" - the only energy source that wouldn't cease to exist in at least billions of years later.

There was the generator button. He pressed it.

Immediately, the room was lit, and the computer turned with an ironically cheerful jingle. Shadow turned around, waiting to be attacked, but nothing happened. Weird. Doctor Eggman's bases usually were heavily guarded, but the tower seemed completely defenseless. He stared at the screen and got surprised by a message right above a loading bar.

 

**_Post Mortem_ **

 

Shadow's stomach sank. Now he understood why there was no one else there.

The loading bar fulfilled itself, and a vídeo appeared on the big monitor. It was the scientist himself, with his chaotic smile always present, sitting in his big chair and rubbing his hand like he was preparing to make the biggest birthday wish ever.

"Hooooo hohohoho! What a big, big day! Certainly this will be the milestone of my success!"

He turned to something beside him, outside the camera's range.

"What?! Already?! He's too fast for my tastes… Well, since we're already been attacked by that despised rodent, let me be brief: this is the information log about the Terraform Project, that I'll be glad to start in minutes! I want to document the whole process of the planet's terraforming. The goals of this project are to define how much power a man like me has over the forces of nature, and if it's possible to change an entire planet for my own liking. For science, of course!"

Terraforming. Typical. In Shadow's opinion, took Eggman long enough to have this idea, actually.

"The materials used for this experiment are much more simples than in all other projects I tackled. I don't need to unite all Chaos Emeralds to feed my terraforming machine - only the Master Emerald is enough! And stealing the stone is so easy that I didn't even need to be there to do it. I sent Metal Sonic in my place - He went on one foot and came back on the other, that imp. I had to put the spare leg on him. I don’t know what happened to the echidna and don’t really want to, either.

He laughed, wickedly and then turned to the side again, paying attention to something.

“Allright, allright, I’m coming! You can distract him, can’t you? Bunch of incompetents! Anyway.” He got the attention back to the camera, putting his arms on the desk and leaning his chin on his hand, thoughtfully. “The objective of this small operation is to collect enough Chaos energy to charge the satellite responsible for the terraforming. Unfortunately, I can’t send anyone to do that for me. I’ll have to go to space by myself. All for the progress, that’s what I always say!”

Doctor Eggman pulled some papers from the drawer, flipped through them distractly, then looked at the camera again.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” He gestured towards something beyond the camera. Bunch of stupid robots, can’t even stop a stupid rat… I think this is it, at least for the beginning… I should spell the date to record it… Oh, here it is. April 15, 2017, at 9:45 in the morning. Over! Before they explode my base once and for all…

The screen turned black. A small arrow appeared in the center, showing the user how to watch the next video. But Shadow didn’t move. There, at the corner of the screen, he could see the current time and date, automatically updated by the computer’s system.

November 18th, 2217.

Shadow wasn’t in the past.

He was in the future.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAM LINE MOTHERFUCKER
> 
> I said this one was hard to write but I never said it wasn't fun!


	6. Post Mortem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's like Bioshock, but with no blood! (Well thank God it has no blood, just the recordings of deceased people)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I have some warnings to make about this chapter here. It looks like this story is getting a little heavy, and I know that, but I promise you it's going to be great. You'll have a blast. You know, it always gets darker before the sunshine, right? I love sunsets - and sunsets are the best of two worlds, day and night. This story is like a sunset. It gets dark, it gets bright, and it gets beautiful. Or maybe I'm just a narcissistic. Either way, I hope you like it!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lu82oMmJ2o

Getting out of his shock, he clicked on the “Next” button, hastily.

November 18th, 2217.

Two hundred years.

The next video was a little bit different from the first one. Doctor Eggman seemed happy, but his mustache, usually so well maintained, were now ruined and dirty. His shades were cracked and his clothes were full of small burns. Apparently, he had lost another match, which was expected - Doctor Eggman never wins.

Or at least he thought so.

The room behind the doctor was dark. One of the lamps on the roof flashed nonstop and Shadow could see a loose cable releasing sparks everywhere, swinging dangerously behind the scientist. Nevertheless, he kept smiling. A wicked smile, sure, even more wicked then on the last video.

“I… I did it! Wooooo hohohohohohoho!” I did it! I collected all the energy from the Master Emerald! The terraforming process will be a success! Of course, I still need to do some adjustments on the rocket, check the coordinates of… Argh!” He bent down to avoid the cable that almost hit his head. “Curses… We had some technical issues during the operation… Let’s just say that we got interrupted… Well, it doesn’t matter! It was a blast! And I managed to get a small souvenir, hahaha! He’ll be my honored guest for the trip, the annoying brat. We’ll have to leave him somewhere on the way, of course, hehehe… No lift is for free, you know?!

_ A hostage. _ Shadow understood what happened. Eggman finally managed to capture one of them.

“I should end with him once and for all…” He laid on his chair, rubbing his ruined mustache, thoughtfully. “But I guess the small genius will be useful for me, in case I need reinforcements at the satellite. I honestly wouldn’t trust this operation on any of my stupid robots. And I hate to admit, but the brat is pretty good…

_ Oh _ . Shadow got who was captured.

“I think this is it. Next weeks will be dedicated to prepare my own trip towards the satellite. If nothing goes wrong, next month we’ll start the operation’s second phase: terraforming! Whooooohohoho, this will be wonderful!

He looked at the clock.

“Let’s see… Today is April 16th, 2017, 6AM. Over.

Eggman spent the day fighting to complete his goal. And he made it.

For the first time, he made it.

Before clicking the next video, Shadow looked to the window in front of him. Two hundred years. Did he manage to terraform the planet? Judging by what he saw, no. If the did, there would be no rocket landed on the base. That spaceship never left Earth.

Unless Doctor Eggman had found another easy way to go to space, his plan was never fulfilled. And still, Shadow saw himself on an isolated, almost dead land, with a civilization struggling to rebuild itself, starting from scratch. What the hell happened two hundred years ago?

He pressed the “next” button.

Everything was dark, and the only visible thing on the screen was the doctor - now looking tired and ill. The only source of light came, apparently, from the camera he was using.

“September 20th, 2032. It’s two in the afternoon. We’re on energy rationing. The Sun…” He stopped to cough before continuing. “A radioactive cloud prevents the sunlight from entering the atmosphere. We have no natural light since…” He checked a shabby notebook beside him. “fifteen years ago. I didn’t have the opportunity to launch my rocket, neither to initiate the terraforming project. I also forgot to register the log… A lot happened on those years,”

He coughed a little more, and the movement made the camera light reflect on the dark circles forming below his shades. He looked terrible.

“The cause of this cloud must be the explosion of the Master emerald. Apparently. There’s a difference between shattering an emerald and exploding it after soaking the thing in radiation. This might have caused an… Imbalance on the atmosphere. A lot of things started to change after the explosion. Most plants got dark and died. Some animals succumbed. Everyone became sicker.

He coughed more. It was a depressing sight.

“I’ve been working to revert the reaction between the emerald and the radiation of my machine. I managed to find a Master Emerald shard and I’m currently studying it… As long as this cloud covers the atmosphere, I can’t go on with the terraforming project.

Shadow completely forgot about the motive why Eggman had done all of that.  _ Of course. He wouldn’t give up that easily. _

The man coughed violently, looking like he was going to spit a whole lung from his chest. He stopped the couch with his head lowered, his forehead leaned on his arm, and for a second Shadow thought he was choking. But the sound got louder, and Doctor Eggman was actually laughing.

But it wasn’t his usual laugh, like an evil Santa Claus. It was cold, hysteric, disturbing.

“Can you believe” He waved his finger towards the camera, like he was actually speaking to someone. “That the blue rodent couldn’t save his friend? Ohhhhh, he’s my most secured hostage. I’ll make sure to keep him heavily guarded up to the last second. It was their fault that everything went wrong, I’m sure of it. If everything goes down, absolutely everything” He got really close to the camera and whispered, threatening. “I’ll make sure to break that idiot’s spirit. He will regret it. I don’t need him to die, oh no. He doesn’t need to die. He just needs to spend the rest of his life feeling as miserable as I am right now. I’ll take him to the bottom of this well, ohhhh I will. And the brat will be my weapon.

Shadow gulped. He hoped Doctor Eggman didn’t  _ register _ whatever he intended to do, because he didn’t know how to skip the videos on that computer.

The video ended with the scientist mixing an acute laughter with a cough. Then, the arrow appeared again, waiting for Shadow to click it.

He did.

It was daylight again. There was the scientist in front of the camera again, looking even worse than before - and this time, wrapped in a big blanket.

“W-w-we are in December 30th, 2045. The Sun’s absence gave place to an Ice Age that still goes on for about...10 years now. We have n-n-n-no prediction for an end. The landscape is covered… Wait, I have to register…

He got close to the camera and turned it to the window, the same one in front of Shadow. Everything was snow, only snow. Kilometers and kilometers of snow. The screen got blurred, and suddenly the scientist was there again.

 

“Now the radiation cloud is gone, but it’s too late. The planet came to an unbearable temperature at this point. I believe…

Doctor Eggman looked to his front, beyond the camera.

I believe that’s it. I’m about to leave this post. I’l migrate with the other survivors to warmer… I mean, less cold places in the planet.

He looked at his own fingers holding the blanket, and then stared at the camera again.

“I’ll leave all my files at the base, together with this video, in case someone finds this post. There’s no reason to fight anymore. I couldn’t find a way to revert the planet’s situation, and the only person who could help me is…

He cleared his throat.

“Anyway. This tower is programmed to function perfectly the moment someone turns the generator on, but the defense systems are deactivated. I believe I made a battery strong enough to work one or two hundred years later, even one thousand if we really need to. And maybe, with all the information available…

He coughed quietly again.

“It may be possible to bring the planet back.”

The scientist got quiet for a while. Then, he stared at the camera one last time.

“Good luck.”

The screen turned black. This time, the arrow pointing right didn’t appear; instead, an arrow turning on its own axis appeared, showing the possibility of watching the  _ post mortem _ from the beginning. But Shadow didn’t need to see it again.

So, Doctor Eggman had finally destroyed his enemies and, with them, the whole planet. He stared at the green shard on the pedestal, innocently glowing at him. The Master Emerald exploded and touched a reasonable amount of radiation in the process. Now he was able to understand what happened to the planet’s atmosphere: if Chaos is the primal source of energy and the thing that commands that energy gets tainted, the whole planet suffers.

Now sure that the no defense system would attack him, Shadow decided to investigate the the drawers right below the computer's panel. Most of them were filled with papers crowded with complex math equations that he had no interest in reading: they were probably Doctor Eggman's researches for his terraform project. But the content in one of the drawers caught his attention.

It was a colorful tablet.

He took the object in his hand, hesitantly. Its design was far less sophisticated than any of Eggman's inventions, and it looked a lot like a child's toy. The scientist probably confiscated the device from his hostage. But Shadow knew that, as childish as it looked, that object probably had a lot of important content. He decided to take it with him - if the young fox registered any information about the catastrophe on that device, maybe it was useful for Shadow. Lastly, he turned to the stone - the thing he went all that trouble to get. When Shadow got in the tower, he had no idea of what he was going to find there. And still wasn't sure if he was happy with the result, either.

Shadow found out a lot of stuff, except how to come back to his own time.

He took the glass protection from the top of the pedestal and, carefully, put his palm below the floating stone. It immediately landed on his hand, like it was accepting him.

At the same moment, red lights came on everywhere, and all the security monitors activated, together with the big computer screen.

Grabbing the shard, Shadow landed on his own axis, watchful. He thought the defense systems weren't working. Was it a trap?

A message appeared on the biggest monitor.

##  Interestellar transportation unit iniciated

##  Propulsion system unstable • Risk of explosion in 99,9%

##  Iminent launch in 01:30

The rocketship was about to take off??? He looked at the security monitors. All of them showed the rocket's cabin.

Inside it, there was a small hare with huge ears, slamming at the door.

Shadow widened his eyes, and felt like his stomach froze.

"DELILAH!"

He ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me in the comments if you like it or not! The next chapter was the one I most wanted to write. See ya!


	7. The Chaos Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OH DANG SUPER POWERS YESSSSSSS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After some heavy plot, time for some action!
> 
> But I have a question for you: Can you hear me running?
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-7IHOXkiV8

She didn't know why she was coming back.

Delilah spent not even one hour at the city. She walked through those empty streets, observing while people lived their lives. Every time the travelled with the nomads, they would go through that village, and it was probably her favorite place, because people  _ lived _ there.

Nomads only survived. There was life in the city: people tho planted to sell their vegetables. Weavers who raised their own sheep to use their wool. People who did things because they liked it, not because it was necessary. Delilah didn't know how it was to live like that. She didn't know what it was like to have an objective; so used to live in leisure, she just survived one day after the other.

She had a goal for the first time in her life, a goal that didn't involve "manage to wake up in the next morning", when Delilah decided to guide Shadow to the mountain. For the first time, she was doing something else beside protect herself:

She was helping someone.

But now, he was gone, and she had to survive, like before.

She couldn't take that anymore.

Not knowing what to do, not having where to go, Delilah came back to the mountains.

-

"Can I go with you?"

She spent the whole walk thinking about how she was going to ask him. She wanted to go to the future too. Surely, it would be better than this! If he came from there, that's because the future held something more than just a life surviving in the woods.

"I'll go with you."

"I'll GO with you."

The trip back to the mountain was exhausting and full of uncertainty. Finally, she got to the bifurcation where they got separated. From there, she took a deep breath and went through the other way, going up the mountain.

Delilah walked until the trail ended. She remembered where she was; that was where she climbed the tree and looked at the stone in a room full of buttons. There was no sense in climbing the pine tree again: there must be an entrance around there.

She found the door easily, following the trail of light coming from inside the tower. Delilah entered the corridor, dazzled. She had never seen anything like it before.

The corridors were white and strongly illuminated by white lights on the roof. She looked up, amazed, observing the light tubes that decorated the corridor's extension. She went on her way, sneezing constantly due to the dust that coming up every time she took a step.

She found the first control room, and got up on the chair to see the buttons. The panel was utterly destroyed, with broken lamps and missing keys. Delilah pressed some of them, curious, and then went through the corridor behind her, until she found the stairs. She then climbed.

And climbed.

And climbed.

Delilah was almost breathless when she arrived at the last floor. Leaning on the rocket's main control panel, she looked through the door that led to the ship.

It sure looked like something that could take her through time and space. Delilah could bet Shadow went that way.

When her lungs stopped burning, Delilah walked on the suspender platform, feeling dizzy just by looking down. The pit was deep, so deep that it was impossible to see the bottom at all.

She entered the cylindrical capsule that was the ship. The lights were warmer and pleasant on the inside, in contrast to the cold lights in the corridors; the carpet was less dirty, and the walls had a soft cream color. The chair was huge, and looked really comfortable.

Delilah climbed on the chair and sat down, amazed after finding out it rotated. She played with the rotating chair for a while, laughing as she felt the dizziness hit every time it stopped. Her ears ended up tangled at the chair's base and Delilah had to stop to avoid shredding her own skin. Completely dizzy, she leaned herself on the ship's control panel. Accidentally, she hit a green button.

The glass doors close behind her.

"Oops." She untangled her ears from the chair and ran to the door, putting her tiny hands on the glass. "Hey, get me out of here!" She screamed. Nothing happened. She wanted to go to the future, of course, but Delilah didn't feel prepared yet - it was better to get out of the spaceship first. She looked around. There must be some way to open the door…

Jumping back on the chair again, she looked at the keys. Nothing made sense to her: a big monitor in front of her showed some letters and numbers, but Delilah's reading skills were too poor. The numbers changer in rhythm, but she didn't comprehend what all of that meant.

"Starting launch sequence" A calm and sweet voice echoed inside the ship, scaring the little hare. "Checking Egglaunch's status."

Then, everything was silent again. Worried, Delilah tried pressing some buttons.

"Command sequence incorrect. Would you like to initiate the voice command?"

"Yes! I mean, I don't know!" She answered with urgency. "Get me out of here!"

"Unidentified voice pattern. Recognized voice patterns: Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Would you like to try again?"

"Open the door!"

"Unidentified voice pattern. Recognized voice patterns: Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Would you like to try again?"

She didn't answer this time. It seemed that the calm lady didn't accept Delilah's voice. She stopped, biting her lip with her big front teeth, thinking. The numbers kept changing on the screen.

While she weighted her options, Delilah heard an alarming sound, and the whole cabin got red.

"Egglaunch's Checkup has been concluded." The woman started talking again, had apparently forgotten the voice pattern thing. "Status: propellent system overload. Risk of imminent explosion. It is recommended to interrupt the launching sequence. Would you like to interrupt the launching sequence?

"Yes!" Delilah screamed, getting back on the floor and running to the door. "I don't want to travel anymore!"

"Unidentified voice pattern. Recognized voice patterns: Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Would you like to try again?"

"Ah, shut up!" The girl retorted with frustration. Risk of imminent explosion? Delilah didn't want to explode. She started to hit the glass door, trying to break it, but it was no use.

While she faced the outside of the ship, Delilah saw a small black shape running towards her. The hare squinted her eyes, trying to see what was it. The shape was really fast.

In an instant, he was on the other side of the platform, staring at her.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

Shadow took a fast look at the cracked monitor beside him, right on top of the rocket's main control panel. A minute until launch. The bridge that connected the room and the spaceship had retracted, and he had to gain momentum and jump like a ball over the rocketship's pit. There was a small platform outside the ship where he could stand. Shadow got closer to the door, leaning down to talk to Delilah.

"Get out of there!" He scream, not certain if she could hear him or not. But she answered, and despite the ongoing sirens, he could hear her muffled voice on behind the glass door.

"I can't! The door's locked!"

"Look for a button, a door lock, anything! You have to get out of there!"

He looked at the monitor inside the ship. Thirty seconds.

Shadow jumped back to the control room and grabbed the chair. He threw it towards the door easily, scaring the girl, but the glass didn't get a scratch. He tried pressing some buttons, but it was useless. Delilah was stuck.

Fifteen seconds.

Shadow got back to the platform outside the ship and leaned down, putting his hand on the glass door, not knowing what to do. She put her hand in the same place as his, on the other side. That brought him horrible memories, that he didn't want to relive.

"Go."

She looked at him, determined, resolute. Wasn't crying. Didn't show any fear.

"I'll handle it." She added.

He frowned, got up, and moved away.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

She saw him moving away from the door with her heart clenched. She just wanted to keep travelling with him. Now she wasn't travelling anywhere. And what could he do? It was better if he ran away. At least one of them would get out alive.

He stopped at the edge of the platform, looking at her. Then, he raised his hands beside his body, his palms upwards, and closed his eyes, seemingly in pain.

What was he doing?

A bright green light came around shadow. Delilah had never seen anything like it. It was a faint light, that got brighter, brighter, brighter...

"Propulsion system unstable. Risk of explosion in 99%9." The calm woman announced.

She heard him scream on the other side of the glass, his eyes shut, his hands turned into fists.

"Shadow, what are you doing?!" Delilah knocked on the door, worried.

Then, everything got dark.

Confused, Delilah thought she had died immediately in the explosion, until she felt a pair of hands on her back, and heard her friend's husky voice in her ear.

"Got you."

It wasn't Delilah's sight that got dark. Her face was stuffed on Shadow's fur.

She felt a strong pull on her belly button, like if someone has stuck a fish hook in there, and the world became a blur of light and color. The weird sensation lasted only a second, but it felt like an eternity. She didn't have time to recover, though, because shortly after, the rocket exploded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some trivia:
> 
> \- I wrote this entire fic just to write this chapter that got stuck in my head for months;  
> \- I described the sensation of the teleport the same way it's described in Harry Potter. Why? Because I love Harry Potter.  
> \- Delilah is my spirit animal. I would probably almost die playing in a rotating chair too if I was in the same situation.


	8. Time Capsule

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's like Back to the Future, but we're already there!
> 
> And yes, Back to the Future is my favorite movie. What gave it away?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! You think I tagged all those characters just to get your attention? Wrong!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM7MFYoylVs

The pain was different this time.

Earlier, he felt an enormous headache, together with a bunch of needles on his joints and ends. Now, however, it felt like this bones burned intensely.

Shadow barely noticed that they were thrown against a pane of glass with the explosion. What explosion? He had a vague feeling of Delilah's presence, since he was still holding her in his arms after getting her out of the rocket. And still, Shadow felt like he was moving away from her as they fell… Were they falling? He couldn't remember.

Well, he knew that using Chaos Control with a master emerald shard full of radiation was a dumb idea.. It finally worked, at least - but now he felt like someone was taking his bones away from his body by force.

Shadow felt Delilah's tiny hands grabbing his wrists and, once more, his body felt a sudden halt in midair. They descended smoothly towards the trail below them. Weakly, Shadow embraced her wrists with his own fingers, to show her that he was still conscious. She squeezed his hands gently as a response.

Smart kid.

He closed his eyes, letting himself get carried away.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

They landed smoothly at the mountain's base, in a glade close to the trail that led to the top. Shadow fell on his knees, but this time he felt a lot better than before - at least he was certain he wouldn't faint again, which was great, because Shadow has sa few words to tell Delilah.

"May I know what the freaking  _ hell _ were you doing back there?" He asked roughly, raising his eyes at her.

"I was looking for you! I thought it was a time machine and you had already travelled back..."

"And then you decide to turn on the rocket, just like that?! Very smart of you."

"I didn't activate it on purpose!" She started walking around him, explaining herself. "I was playing on the rotating chair, then I got dizzy, then I leaned on the table, then I pressed a green button..."

"Playing on the rotating chair." He repeated, slowly. "You almost exploded yourself because you were playing on a  _ chair _ ."

"Yeah! Well, the way you put it sounds really dumb..."

"That's because it  _ is _ dumb!" He stood up, raising his arms in frustration. "You shouldn't even be following me, to start with! Why did you come back? Your place is here!"

"Because I can't take it anymore!" She yelled back, furious, and Shadow stood in silence, surprised. "I can't live like this anymore! It's horrible to survive!"

That confused him a little.

"Come again?"

"Yeah! The only thing I do is survive. I look for food so I don't starve, I search for wood so I don't freeze, I make campfires at night so I don't become something else's food, I walk back and forth because I have nowhere to go… I just try to stay alive, one day after the other, and all my efforts go to this. For the first time since you appeared, I had something to do besides not dying. I lived. And for the first time my parents died I had company!" Her eyes were full of tears, but Delilah didn't let them fall on her cheeks; she wiped them away with the back of her hand, impatiently. "You have no idea how bad it is to not have a place on the world, no one that can accept you."

"Yes I do." Shadow interrupted her, suddenly, looking down at her, a serious tone on his voice. "Don't assume anything about me."

She stopped talking. Shadow always looked intimidating before but, for the first time, she got really scared of him. He stared at her for a while, then looked around and added:

"You want to change your way of living, and I can understand that, but you don't need me to chance."

She felt her face heat up, noticing the selfishness in her own words.

"I don't want to stay with you just because I want change. I… I like you. You're cool. I mean, you care. You saved me, after all."

He lifted an eyebrow, surprised. Shadow wasn't expecting that for an answer.

"And you saved me from falling right now. Although, I must add" He crossed his arms, leaning his weight on one of his legs. "It's the second time already that we need to save ourselves because of a mistake you made. So I can't give you much credit.

"Three, actually." She added with a low voice.

"I'm not counting the baboon attack. You weren't the cause of that situation, after all."

"I screamed" She spoke, her voice even lower.

"Oh. Yeah. Then yes, three times."

he sighed, then hit the tips of his shoes on the floor, trying to take the dirt off in vain.

"We'll camp here now. It's getting dark. Tomorrow I'll take you back to the city."

"I'll go with you."

"No, you won't."

"I will! I'm not coming back. I know that you don't like me, but I can't stay here anymore!"

"I never said that I don't like you!" He shut his eyes, losing his patience again. He was done arguing with her. "If I didn't like you, I wouldn't go through all the effort at the tower to get you out of the rocket, would I? But what am I going to do with you when we get to the past?! I can't keep an eye on a little girl forever, I'm not your baby sitter!"

"I know how to take care of myself! Who told you I want you to… Wait, past?!"

Shadow raised both eyebrows, then remembered. Delilah wasn't with him when he watched Doctor Eggman's post mortem. She didn't know what he knew.

"I was mistaken. They didn't send me to the past. I was sent to the future. The planet's balancing point exploded in radiation and turned the Earth into… This." He gestured with his head towards the brittle leaves and the gray tree trunks. "Apparently, we're two hundred years ahead of my time."

Delilah widened her eyes, incredulous. Then, she opened a huge smile, showing her big teeth.

"Shadow, we can come back! We can save the future!"

That was too familiar. At least she didn't look like a cockatoo.

But it wasn't like the idea hasn't crossed his mind. In fact, it was the first thing he thought: to take mental notes of the dates mentioned in Doctor Eggman's videos and then get back before the catastrophe, to prevent him from destroying the whole world. It was his promise, after all.

"I know, but I still couldn't figure out how." Shadow sat down with his legs crossed, grabbing his bag and opening up the content. He pulled the master emerald shard from the inside.

"What that the stone you wanted?"

"Not exactly." He pulled the yellow emerald from the improvised bag. "See? They're different. This is only a shard of the Master Emerald."

"Oh." She dragged one of her feet on the floor, feeling guilty. "Sorry."

"You couldn't know" Shadow quickly reassured her, recalling the threat he made before they started their journey. "And in any case, it's a progress. It's not exactly what I expected, and using this thing  _ hurts _ , but at least it works."

He cleared his throat. Shadow wasn't used to speaking so much. Delilah made too many questions.

"I think I can find a way to go back in time with this emerald fragment, but I still need to take some tests before."

He straightened his back a little and a second object slided from the tangled poncho on his lap.

It was the colorful tablet.

"What's that?" She sat down in front of him, taking the device with surprising caution. Shadow didn't like the object very much. It was proof of things Doctor Eggman did, two hundred years ago, and it wasn't a pleasant feeling.

_ I'll make sure to break that idiot's spirit. _

Delilah and him had almost the same age…

A small jingle brought him back to the present.

"Oops!" Startled, Delilah let go the device, upon seeing the light on the screen. "Oh, sorry."

He got the object from the floor, and examined it. Shadow was surprised it still had batteries to turn on. Delilah got up from where she was and ran to his side, leaning on his arm to take a better look.

"Hello! You're accessing the handheld computer of Miles Prower, commonly known as Tails." It was a recorded message from the fox himself, his childish voice echoing through the glade. A small picture of himself appeared on the screen. "The content of this device is reserved only for certified individuals. Say your name, and the computer will recognize the user!"

The icon of a microphone got in the place of Tails' picture. Thinking fast, Shadow announced, loudly.

"Sonic."

"I'm not stupid, Shadow." The device answered, startling him. Delilah laughed. "But don't worry, the device is available for you, too. The next video is directed specially for you."

The screen got dark and then, for his utter surprise, Rouge appeared in the tablet, in front of a white background.

"Hello, darling." She gave him a skewed smile, and even two hundred years apart, Shadow frowned to her. But he couldn't help but smile back. "Of course you may already have noticed, but our experiment had a… small miscalculation." She gestured with her fingers how small the mistake was, squinting and maintaining the smile.

_ Small? _ He thought, but didn't stop smiling. It was so good to see a familiar face for a change. One that wasn't Doctor Eggman's, of course.

"We were trying to identify the date where you got sent to, but no success so far. It was Tails who had the idea..."

"That's a lie, it was me!" He heard a voice beyond the camera, and immediately recognized the cheerful and gloating voice tone. It was  _ him _ who was recording. " _ I _ told you to do like that movie where the dude sends a letter to the mail and asks them to send it only on a certain date..."

"Allright, allright, it was you." She retorted, rubbing her forehead. Delilah laughed again, dazzled at the video. "Anyway,  _ Sonic _ gave us the idea to leave a message for you to find in the future, giving you information so you can come back. GUN thinks that this kind of information must be confidential, but I decided to find some extra help to get you back. Not that they know it" She winked at the camera. "But what the eyes don't see, the heart doesn't feel."

They really thought of a virtual time capsule to help him get back. Very ingenious. The screen turned to a blur for a moment and Sonic's gloating face appeared on camera, too close to the lens and totally out of frame. Delilah laughed again.

"He's funny."

"He's a clown, that's what he is." Which was exactly what "being funny" meant, but Delilah couldn't know what a clown was, so it made no difference.

"We still have no info that can help ya, but everything we managed to get will be kept inside Tails' tablet. He'll program the thing to recognize your voice…

"If he's watching this it already happened you dumbass!" He heard Rouge scream from the other side of the room.

"Yeah, whatever. I owed you one, didn't I?" He winked, and Shadow rolled his eyes, resigned. "So there it is. Have a nice trip back! And welcome!"

The screen turned black, and then the computer opened the menu. There were a lot of icons to interact with, but there was one with Shadow's silhouette calling his attention.  _ They thought of everything. _

"Your friends are cool!" She yelled cheerfully, leaning all her weight over him and taking the tablet from his hand. "I liked the blue one. He's funny. And blue. I never saw anyone blue before.

She sat down, still leaning on his arm, selecting random icons from the tablet and opening a lot of new tabs. Before Shadow could stop her, Delilah pressed the camera button, and a blinding flash hit right on their face.

“Ouch! What was that?”

“A camera. Ok, let’s get this out of your hand before you destroy it.” Shadow got the device back and put it in the bag, making sure the emerald shard was still with him. “This is my ticket back to the past, and I need it with enough batteries so I can figure out what to do, thank you very much.”

He stood up and Delilah fell on her back, losing her "support".

"Where are you going?" She asked, grabbing her toes and looking up to him, still laid down on her back.

"Grab some wood and make our camp for tonight.

"Oh, right, now you know how to do it."

"I do."

"Thanks to me."

"Yes."

While he got the dirt off his legs, Shadow heard Delilah's voice, really low.

"Take me with you."

"I do need your help to get firewood, so of course you're coming with me."

"No, I mean..." She got up from the floor, tripping on her ears. "Take me to the past with you. Please."

She looked at him with the biggest, kindest eyes he ever saw, pouting at him.

He didn't answer.

"Let's go, before it gets too dark."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, tell me if it's too out of character. I liked those reactions too much to trim them down, but I want to know if I got it wrong.


	9. The Prisioners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's like Prison Break! I never watched Prison Break so I don't really know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again! It gets darker before the sunshine.
> 
> I promise it has a beautiful sunshine in the end.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI66hcu9fIs

While Delilah slept, wrapped on her ears, Shadow took the opportunity to check all the content that was selected for him. Most of it was in the form of videos, all made by Tails, in front of the same blank wall, giving him all the information about the plan to bring him back. Apparently, Tails had built a replicate of GUN's time machine, using the calculations Rouge provided to him, but still didn't manage to make it work, and didn't want to use anyone as a guinea pig, even though Sonic volunteered in a lot of videos - he was always the one behind the camera. The boy feared the same thing that happened to Shadow could happen to his best friend, too, which was perfectly comprehensible.

And, honestly, he didn't want to deal with Sonic in the future, too. Delilah was already enough.

He stopped before watching the two last videos, thinking. Tails gave him the exact location, coordinates and everything, of the time machine he had built. Shadow hoped it was still there; two hundred years passed, after all, and a lot of things changed. The boy guaranteed that it was a really safe hideout, but still… Two hundred years. He looked at Delilah, lost in thought.

She really wanted to go with him. If he had to think about it some days ago, Shadow would strongly disagree. But now… Delilah became a constant presence and a company that, despite being able to annoy him easily, it was pleasant in a way. Delilah was too noisy, too cheerful, too active, too curious… But she was also strong, fearless, smart and a survivor; Shadow admired that on her, specially coming from a seven (seven and a half) year old kid. She depended on no one. Even when she was about to explode with the rocket, her only reaction was to tell him to go and save himself. No crying, no fear involved. Just the same determined expression and a firm "go".

Shadow admired Delilah's strength.

What he said to her was true: he never said that he didn't like her. They just didn't develop a bond before. He was annoyed, in the beginning, for having to carry a little girl everywhere, and would rather be alone.

But right now, not so much.

But what he could do? Take her back? They belonged to different times. Shadow couldn't even tell if that was possible - maybe time and space didn't handle paradoxes very well, and a girl from the future going to the past definitely counted as a paradox.

Delilah needed to stay behind. He was sure she could handle herself, but at the same time he could see what she was going through, and didn't wish that to anybody.

Guilt and uncertainty. That could drive anyone crazy.

Straightening his back, leaning on a rock behind him, Shadow moved away from those thoughts and turned to the two videos remaining. Up until now, Tails still hadn't found a way to make the machine work. But he was close.

The video started, and Shadow got confused by the setting - that was no white wall, but a dark corridor instead. A black silhouette blocked his vision, but the movement of two tails behind it showed it was Tails in the recording. He seemed to be alone - the camera was a lot closer than before, when it was Sonic making the videos.

"April 12th, 2017" Unlike Doctor Eggman, that would forget to add the date every time at the beginning, Tails always started the video with date and hour, to keep it registered. "9AM. I'm in the middle of a recognition mission, now, Shadow, so forgive me for the whispers." He did all of the videos like they were just talking to each other on the phone. Shadow got used to that after a while.

His heart jumped in his chest. April 12th. Two days before Eggman's first log. Shadow straightened up, alert, looking straight to the tiny screen.

"So, here's the situation" The boy kept talking, looking behind his shoulder to see if no one had spotted him. "Angel Island fell down again. Knuckles is missing, we came to investigate one of Eggman's bases. Before entering, I needed to register this, because I think I know how to bring you back..." He stopped suddenly, looking behind his shoulder again, quietly, his ears pointing up. Then he got back to the camera, speaking with more urgency. "My biggest problem with the machine is its energy source - a Chaos emerald is too much, and I think that's what sent you so further in future… I estimations, based on my research…" He pulled a small notebook from his belt and lurked through it, quickly. "You got at least two hundred years later. I don't know if GUN tried to use a chaos emerald to send you, but if that was the case, that's why you got so far.

Shadow looked at the yellow emerald beside him. He snorted in frustration.

"BUT" He covered his mouth and looked behind, after accidentally screaming with excitement. "I found out Eggman is working with nuclear reactors now. I'm not a big fan of this energy source, but at this point, maybe that's the only way to make the machine work properly and bring you back. I'll keep in touch."

The video ended.

So, the guardian of the Master Emerald went missing when it was stolen. He assumed Eggman did something with him - although not even the scientist seemed to know what, exactly. Tails went on a mission and decided to add some information about bringing Shadow back to the past on the way. Or the present. The answer, apparently, was in the nuclear reactor that Eggman built to use on his terraforming plan.

Shadow pressed the button to see the next video, the last one recorded by Tails.

It was pitch dark, and in a moment of apprehension, Shadow thought the battery finally died. But then the camera moved a little and he could see a bright corridor behind bars.

In front of the bars, a silhouette with pointy ears.

April 20th, 2017. Hour unknown.

He had a hoarse voice, spoke quickly and with urgency. His had moved constantly, looking outside, feeling uneasy.

"I don't have much time. The battery is dying, and soon he'll come here to ask where is our hideout. The scout mission went wrong - we bumped onto an army of robots just waiting for us. I risked investigating the reactors and ended up here."

He suddenly stopped and disappeared from the camera. For a couple of seconds, Shadow could only see the cell bars and the bright corridor. Then, a badnik appeared on the outside, scanned Tails' cell and went its way. Two seconds later, the fox's silhouette got in front of the camera again.

"I managed to intercept the reactor's blueprints and put on this computer for you, but it's all I got. I sent some morse code messages to Sonic's radio, asking him to keep gathering informations, but I don't know if he receiv-"

A loud noise, the camera became a big blur, and then the video stopped at the only clear image of Tails in prison: full of dirt and bruises, fighting against the robot that entered the cell without him noticing it. And that was all.

Shadow stared at the tablet's screen for a while, then finally turned the device off, to save the batteries. He leaned his back against the rock behind him again.

He reached another dead end. Shadow would try to find the location Tails gave to him, but now he needed a nuclear reactor???? What did he expect Shadow to do? Build one?

He held the emerald shard and examined, thoughtfully. The emerald got soaked in radiation before exploding, and he suspected it to be the only thing that kept the energy on that fragment. That was shadow's only bet. If the master emerald didn't work, then unfortunately he was stuck in the future, for the rest of his life.

And Shadow was practically immortal.

He put his stuff on the poncho and looked at the sky, to the stars that now appeared in hundreds, since there was no electric energy in the world anymore. He looked back to the bonfire and stared at the small sleeping package on the other side, wrapped like a burrito.

At least, he wasn't alone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this one is kinda heavy. I promise it'll pay off! 
> 
> And Hey, badass Tails is the best Tails.


	10. Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's like Sonic Forces but there's no one there!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this before Sonic Forces came out, just for the record.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9bCLPwzSC0

It was simply a crater.

But not just a crater; it was THE crater. It extender for miles and miles in the landscape, with a small dark spot right in the middle. It was simply a crater in the sense of having absolutely nothing beside it. An artificially created deserted.

Shadow and Delilah stood on top of it, right on the border. It was a steep path downhill, so they had to be really careful on each step.

"Did the emerald explode there?" Delilah asked, swinging right on the border, her arms wide open, one foot after the other.

"Yes." Shadow pulled her away from the border, casually, not even looking at her, his attention focused on Tails' tablet. "According to those coordinates, their hideout was around here."

"How come didn't the hideout explode, too?" She got back to balancing herself on the border, farther from Shadow.

"I don't know." He reached Delilah and pulled her away again.

"Ahhhhhh. Nice."

She ran even further and balanced herself again.

"If you fall down, I'll be standing right here, laughing at you."

"That's a lie. You never laugh."

"I can make an exception."

She swung dangerously, almost falling in the pit, and jumped away, startled. Shadow chuckled. The hare turned to him, grumpy, and gave him the tongue.

They kept walking, following Shadow's GPS. Finally, they arrived at a big red natural wall, with a giant crack in the middle. Shadow got closer to the crack and looked inside, raising the bright emerald shard to light up the darkness. Then, he gestured at Delilah to follow him.

It was a large gap - Shadow didn't even need to turn himself to enter. Avoiding rocks and stalagmites, both advanced through the cave, Shadow always ahead, protecting Delilah in case they found any danger. It was chilly down there, and they could hear a small stream somewhere. Delilah was surprisingly quiet - even she understood the importance of what they were doing.

The path went downwards, becoming steeper and steeper at each step. Suddenly, the trail widened in front of them, and Shadow finally found the "secure hideout".

It was a huge bunker in the middle of the cave. Personal objects were thrown away everywhere - sneakers, gloves, basketballs and soccer balls - but also a huge amount of electronic devices, some of them only half built, others downright broken. One wall was full of tools, and there were boxes of food stock, most of them empty, the rest probably inedible.

He walked around the bunker, looking for a generator. If Eggman was able to create an energy source that worked two hundred years later, Shadow was certain that Tails could, too.

The generator was rudimentary, exposed on one corner at the cave, but after pressing one button, the lights went on, flickering a little.

"Wow, this place is huge!" He heard Delilah scream, running from one side to the other of the bunker. He turned around to take a look.

He could see each one of the people that lived there only by the things that were left behind. Flower vases, now empty, hanging on the walls. A punchbag hanging by the roof, now full of holes. Toys. A red shoe left on top of an old wardrobe. A videogame on the floor, in front of a TV that was already old two hundred years ago. With a clenched heart, he recognized a small jewel box carefully placed in front of a big, cracked heart shaped mirror. Even Rouge lived there for a while.

At the center of the hideout, there was a big round table full of papers. Upon getting closer, Shadow noticed the time machine’s blueprint, now full of notes made with a red marker. He examined those notes, impressed - most of the group’s planning involved bringing him back, together with reverting the planet’s atmosphere.

“What’s this?” He turned his head upon hearing Delilah’s question. She was in front of a big shape, covered by a white blanket. Before Shadow could stop her, she pulled the fabric. In a swift and impressive movement, the cloth floated down around the girl, revealing the same device depicted on the blueprints Shadow was reading.

It was a broad circular platform, made of metal, with a control panel following almost the whole perimeter, framed by four pillars resembling four huge fingers closing over the whole structure. Outside it was a smaller control panel, with some buttons, a small screen and a big lever on the floor, right beside the panel.

“Looks scary.” She mentioned, moving away to take a better look. “We aren’t getting in this thing, are we?”

“Probably, yes.” He answered, distracted, still looking at the blueprint.

Shadow realized what he just said a minute too late. He looked up to Delilah and saw her open a smile from ear to ear.

(It was a really big smile.)

“Can I go, then?!”

Shadow frowned, not knowing what to do. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to leave Delilah behind, anymore.

“Let’s figure out how does this thing work, first.”

He put his bag on top of the table, sat on one of the steel chairs and examined the blueprint, thoughtfully. Delilah kept walking around the bunker, happy as a clam, and found a pair of protective glasses on top of the table.

“What does this thing do?”

“Those are glasses. To put on your face.”

She immediately put the thing on her head, laughing.

“It’s all dirty! I can’t see a thing.” And ran around the bunker with the glasses on.

“Don’t leave the hideout” Warned Shadow, not bothering to look up from the blueprint.

“Ok!” There was absolutely no reason for Delilah to leave the place, since the outside was nothing but a whole in the middle of a desert, while the bunker had a million things to do and accidentally break. She hopped through boxes and abandoned objects until she found a big projector on a wall.

“Shadow, come’here!”

“All right.” And kept reading.

“I’m serious, you have to see this!”

“Delilah, this is important.”

He felt her tiny hand pulling his arm and looked down, vexed.

“What?”

She stuffed a piece of paper on his face. Confused and annoyed, the moved the thing away, raging at her.

“What the…?”

Shadow looked at the paper.

**"Watch me."**

_ Watch me. _

“Where did you find this note?”

“On that thing, next to the wall.” She pointed to the projector.

Leaving the time machine on hold, Shadow neared the projector, looking for the button to turn the device on. As soon as it switched on, a recording took place on the wall, right in the middle of a white canvas. Shadow moved away and almost fell down: Delilah had pushed a chair towards him so he could sit. As soon as he sat down, she climbed on his lap, focusing on the video in front of them. He was about to protest, but decided to pay attention to the recording instead.

For the first time, Sonic appeared clearly on the video, in front of the white wall (that Shadow noticed it to be exactly the projector’s canvas they were using at the moment). He was on top of a tall wooden bench and just couldn’t stop shaking his foot, impatient. A microphone popped up from his pointy ear to his mouth.

“Look! It’s your blue friend!” Delilah pointed, cheerfully.

“Shhh!”

“Is this thing turned on?” The hedgehog in the recording screamed at the camera. Delilah squeezes her ears, frowning - the volume was too high.

“You don’t need to yell, there’s a mic on your face!” He heard the voice of a girl beyond the camera, scolding him.

“Sorry! But is it on?”

“Yeah it is!”

“Oh, _ is it _ ?” He was obviously teasing her.

“Sonic!”

“Allright, allright” He deepened his voice, straightening his back on the bench. Shadow had no patience for that already. “Welcome, time lords, to the Capsule. I’m here today, on Tails’ place, because he went on a scout mission and can’t be here with all of you today…

“All of you? It’s only Shadow!”

“Stop being boring, Amy” He relaxed on the bench again, and got back to his normal tone. “I’m leaving soon, but Tails asked me to tell you, Faker, that he managed to build the machine, and is now looking for a way to turn it on.

He already knew those infoa. Sonic probably didn’t know that Tails made a recording on the tablet.

“I guess this is all I have to say for now… Soon Tails will gather all of those Time Capsule videos on a compilation so you have everything documented in the future.” Shadow just couldn’t figure out why wasn’t that video with the others. “But of course I had to show myself to tease you, right? Or else that ain’t me. Good luck!”

“Didn’t you already know all of that?” Delilah raised her head, looking at him.

“Yes… Everything was recorded on Tails’...”

It was when the next video started that Shadow understood. It was Sonic again, but a different one. He wasn’t hyperactive and cheerful anymore, wasn’t making silly faces to whoever was recording, didn’t look happy. Looking at the camera, he looked serious and anxious. His arm was tied on a sling - seemingly broken.

The videos were on separate devices because the scout mission failed. Tails never came back.

“The date, Sonic…” The girl's voice was also more serious, and lower.

“Today is…” He looked at a piece of paper on his other hand.” April 13th, 2017. It’s two in the morning.” He looked back to the camera. “We had… Some issues at the scout mission. It became a sabotage mission, and then a rescue mission…” He looked away for a while, running his fingers through his quills at the back of his head, sighing heavily. “I broke my arm. It was all… All a mess. We couldn’t find Knuckles, and Tails… Anyway.”

“Eggman was more prepared than we thought - I guess this was his most ambitious plan he ever had so far. I got a morse code message from Tails… Apparently he’s trying some sort of terraforming. We’re already studying ways of infiltrating his base to stop him. The Master Emerald exploded, taking a forest and part of a city with it.

He huffed, frustrated, trying to hold his anger. The video’s audio filled with a hissed sound.

“He also informed me that Eggman had a nuclear reactor that we could probably use to turn the time machine on… But the reactor must have exploded with the emerald, so...

He looked at the camera again.

“We didn’t give up. But it’ll take a little more than I expected to bring you back. I want to go back there right now to save him, but no one lets me get out of here with my arm like this, so you’ll have to wait a while. Not that it matters to you” He let out a weak smile. “You have all the time in the world, being immortal and everything.”

_ “We’re the ones fighting the storm.” _

The next video started almost immediately. Delilah was completely silent, focused on the projector.

It was him again. Everything was pitch dark with only a spot of light pointing at him. It reminded Shadow of one of Eggman’s videos after the catastrophe.

“August 12th, 2032.” Sonic looked a lot older, more tired, and had a few scars. Fifteen years had passed since the last recording. He wasn’t smiling. “We’re out of electricity for some months now. We agreed to not using the generator unless in really special occasions. Well, it doesn’t matter now, but at least I have enough energy for this…”

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and joining his palms in front of his face.

“I have to apologize. We promised to help you. But our last hope… He’s gone.”

He stood in deep silence for a while, before managing to speak again.

“We did everything we could. I know you’re smart, and will probably find this place. I hope you can find a way to come back. Who knows… Maybe then, we’ll have a chance.”

“This is my last recording, because we’ll have to move from this area and look for shelter in another place, due to the radiation. Everyone’s gone. There’s only me. It’s… It’s hard to leave everything behind. But I guess it’s the first time I do stuff along in a loooong, loooong time”

Sonic got closer to the camera, holding it and aiming at himself.

“I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that you manage to come back, Shadow. But if you don’t… I hope you have enough strength to make a better future. I didn’t give up yet. I can’t do anything else here, but I’ll keep fighting. I hope you do, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watch me, watch me!
> 
> Oh, yeah, a little disclaimer: I know literally NOTHING about quantum physics. So don't even bother correcting me in any of my science giberrish, I know it's all wrong.
> 
> BUT I DID A LITTLE TINY BIT OF RESEARCH FOR SOME THINGS I SWEAR


	11. The Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's like... I don't know, I'm just sad now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bye Bye Butterfree
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgExQDpLBlo

They stood there on the chair for a good amount of time, even after the projector turned off. It was too much information to assimilate.

"What now? How are we getting back?" Delilah finally asked, looking up to him, twisting her ears on her fingers. Shadow didn't answer - only looked back at her for a while. He gently put the girl on the floor and got up from the chair, pulling it back to the table. Then, he approached the machine.

It was exactly the same as the one he tested before appearing on the frozen fields, in the future. He went towards the wiring at the other side of the device and opened the power compartment, examining the space where the battery would be connected. He held the emerald shard between his fingers and stared at the wiring, although his mind wandered farther from there.

If it worked, he would go back and, maybe, help revert all that happened. If it didn't… Well, Sonic was right. He had all the time in the world, and a whole future ahead of him. And there were people counting on that future to be happy.

He put the fragment at the battery space. It stood there, floating lightly, like that was its place from the beginning.

The machine turned on.

He closed the power box, stood up and saw Delilah looking at him, twisting her ears compulsively.

He had to talk to her, sooner or later.

And it was already late.

Shadow leaned, putting one of his knees on the floor, so they could stand face-to-face.

"I can't take you with me."

"Why not?

"Because I don't know if it's possible for you to exist in a different time besides yours, Delilah."

"You exist. You're here."

"Yes, because this is the future. What I do here can't change the past. But if you come with me… I don't know what could happen. Maybe you cease to exist. Do you understand? I can't let anything happen to you.

For the first time since they met each other, he saw Delilah cry for real, her tears flowing freely on her cheeks, although silently. Then, for his total surprise, she hugged him. Feeling completely awkward, he retributed the hug, hesitantly, giving gentle pats on her shoulder.

"You're going to save all of them, aren't you?" She asked, her face stuffed on his shoulder, her voice muffled from all the crying. "All your friends. They did everything to help you."

"I will. I'll try." He gently moved Delilah away, facing her with a serious expression. "And, if everything goes right, your future will be different. You won't need to survive anymore. You'll have the chance to live."

She smiled, her fur full of tear marks.

"You're immortal, aren't you? Do you promise to find me?"

If Shadow changed the past, Delilah wouldn't even remember him anymore, since they'd never meet each other. But he smiled back.

"I promise."

He gave her one last pat in her head, then stood up.

"I'll need your help configuring the machine. I'll control the panels on the inside, you on the outside. When everything's settled, you'll pull the lever on the floor. Got it?"

"Got it."

He went to the outside panel and typed the sequence of buttons specified in the blueprints. Then he entered the machine and typed the date on the inside panel: April 15th, 2017. He had to get there _before_ the catastrophe, but _after_ Tails finished the machine, or else he'd create a huge paradox. The date of the catastrophe was the only one he was sure all of this would match.

Then, he pressed the key that activated the machine.

The arms around the platform started to spin, making a big noise, and a blue light emanated from the floor. He looked at Delilah.

"Press the green button!"

"Ok!" On the tip of her toes, she reached the button. The lights went green, and the arms spinned faster. When they were so fast Shadow couldn't even see them, he shouted at Delilah again, trying to overcome the deafening noise.

"Pull the lever!"

Putting all her weight on it, Delilah pulled the lever. The lights got red, and the machine vibrated intensely. He fell on his knees, leaning on the panel, and stared at his friend one last time. He could see her screaming something, but the machine's noise prevented him from hearing it.

Then, he disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short one! This is kinda sad awwwww
> 
> But we have no time to lose, we need to save the world!
> 
> Actually, we have. It's a time machine.


	12. Sixteen and a Half

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It looked like the end, but we're just getting started now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, from now on you'll be witnessing the most fun to write chapters of the whole story. I had a blast working on those, it was amazing. I hope you love it too <3
> 
> This chapter has the song that most inspired me to write.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oozQ4yV__Vw

"Good morning, Delilah!"

"Good morning, Samson! How's the weather today?"

"The climate is on 25ºC, and it's a sunny day, no clouds in the sky. What do you plan on doing today?"

"I think today is the big day, Samson."

"It looks like a great plan, Delilah!"

She grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and took a bite, making a huge mark with her big teeth. Apples were her favorite fruit, since she was seven. She would always eat one - it gave her good memories.

She sat down at the round table, putting her feet on top of it, and took the tablet, examining all the calculations she had left there before going to sleep. She spent the last few days making all the final preparations on her new invention, and believed it was time to finally run its first test.

She didn't know what would happen if it didn't work, but she  _ knew _ it would work.

Delilah threw the apple's remains on the thrash beside her, took her feet out of the table and scribbled some notes on a piece of paper while speaking with her computer.

"Samson, can you give me an estimative for the weather on this same day, same hour, two hundred and nine years ago?"

She read a story from a big book in which the characters were called Samson, a big strong hero, and Delilah, a woman who betrayed him in exchange for treasures. Delilah didn't like the story at all: the woman was a liar, and the fact they had the same name made her uncomfortable. But "Samson and Delilah" sounded cool, and Delilah would eventually betray Samson, too - she would leave him behind, and didn't know if she'd manage to come back. 

But Samson didn't mind being alone. He was there to help Delilah on her mission.

"Of course! Calculating."

She thought about making an AI with a feminine voice, but just the idea brought her bad memories. Samson was better.

"The weather was a chilly day, Delilah. About 15ºC, cloudy."

"Thank you Samson, You can prepare the machine for the test. I'll be right back."

"Are you sure, Delilah?"

She looked at Shadow's belongings, smiling.

"Yeah."

Big and stoic Shadow, enough of an airhead to go back to the past and leave all his stuff in the future. Delilah had to learn quantum physics for nine years to invent a portable nuclear reactor and turn on the machine. She had to give back his stuff, right? It was the least she could do…

Of course, if he didn't forget his things, she would probably have to follow him for another motive. To see if he managed to save his friends. To show him how she programmed Samson. To be sure he gave her credit for helping him get back to his time. Delilah had so much to tell him…

She got out of the cave and stretched herself in front of the crater, checking the weather. Once more, Samson was right. It was a beautiful day, with no clouds in sight, a little too hot for Delilah, who was always using a pink hoodie she found in one of her trips. She was keeping it, tho; according to Samson, it was cold on the day she'd go back. It was better to be slightly prepared. Delilah got back to the cave, approached the machine and typed some code on the outside panel.

"I'll need you to take care of this panel for me, all right, Samson?"

"Right, Delilah!"

"You're a great friend, did you know that?"

"Oh, that way you'll make me blush."

Delilah liked how she programmed him. It was almost like he had personality. She was about to enter the machine, when the girl remembered.

Shadow's belongings!

She ran towards the table in the center of the bunker and grabbed the bundle made with her friend's old poncho. Before getting back, Delilah made sure everything was in their place, specially the yellow emerald - certainly Shadow would need it.

The hare got back to the platform, putting her protection glasses on her face and pulling the ears inside. Typed the day and hour she intended to go to.

"I'm ready, Samson!"

"Right, Delilah! Initiating Time Transportation."

The machine's arms started spinning, and the platform became blue.

"Okie dokie… Activate the push, Samson!"

"Activating push, Delilah."

The lights got green.

"All right… Pull the lever!"   
It had to work. Took her nine years to make it work.

The lever went down, but Samson said nothing this time.

"Samson?" Delilah asked, uneasy.

"Yes, Delilah."

"I'll miss you."

"Me too, Delilah."

She disappeared.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

The luminous panel informed him that it was eight in the morning. He got up, after losing his balance with the trip, and looked around.

It was really dark inside the cave, and there was a lot less stuff there than before he entered the machine. The table in the middle was square and smaller; the wall with hanging tools was still there, but he couldn't see any of their personal belongings, with the exception of a small camp on one corner, with tents, backpacks and the remains of a bonfire.

He got out of the machine, letting his vision get used to the lack of light. Seemingly he got back, and the bunker was still at its beginning.  _ And _ it was eight in the morning, so he still had time to enter Eggman's base before the battle started.  _ And _ the machine was connected to the generator and working, so he came back at the right time, after Tails built it. Now, he just needed the emerald to…

The emerald.

Shadow forgot his things in the future.

He facepalmed hard, furious at himself. How could he forget? He had to do everything on foot.  _ Again. _

He took a step towards the cave's exit, but before climbing his way to the valley, Shadow looked behind. He could almost see his small friend's silhouette, right behind him, even though it was impossible. What a weird feeling, to know that he'd never see a person who just talked to him five minutes ago. It was a weird void.

He could really see her silhouette…

And the silhouette was shining. He widened his eyes, incredulous.

She was in the middle of the platform, one arm around a ball of ears, the other around a small bundle. She opened one eye, then the other, and moved her little pink nose, like the bunny she was. They stared at each other.

"I DID IT!"

Before Shadow could react, Delilah engulfed him in a confused hug full of ears flying around them. Then, with her arms still tightly around his neck, she began jumping in circles around the cave.

"I did it I did it I did it I did it..."

"Argh, D-Delilah… Get off me!" Shadow disentangled himself from her confusing hug and held her still by the shoulders, still incredulous. "You followed me?! I told you to..."

He stared at her again. Delilah was now taller than him, skinny, clumsy looking; she used a pink hoodie with a small rainbow embroidered on the chest, instead of her old and tattered wool poncho. She still had the habit of walking barefoot, and the hoodie was so long she didn't bother using pants. On her face, stuck a pair of protective glasses - the same old glasses they found two hundred years later.

"I'd come earlier, but the master emerald shard was done after you used it." Deliah explained, following Shadow's mute question. "So I spent nine years studying quantum physics and building some kind of compact nuclear reactor to feed the thing." She shrugged, like it was nothing.

" _ Nine years _ ? You're sixteen now?"

"Sixteen  _ and a half _ " She corrected, flicking his nose with her fingers. "And now I'm bigger than you. How old are you anyway?"

"Fifty-something… Wait, does that matter?" He shook his head. "I told you not to come to the past, and you follow me anyway?!"

" _ Fifty _ ? Whoa, no wonder you act like an old dude, you are one..." She lifted the pack in her hands and threw it on Shadow's arms. "You forgot your stuff, airhead. Besides… Future didn't change after you left. So I guess we still have things to settle, right?"

Still staring at her, he opened the pack. There were his belongings: the yellow emerald, Tails' colorful tablet, the flint stones. (yabadabadoo)

"I didn't bring the emerald shard because I guess it has to stay on its own time. But I think you can keep the rest."

"And you should have stayed too, Delilah… I don't know what will happen if you stay here."

"A 'thank you' should be enough, Shadow."

He frowned. It made her laugh.

"I know you're thankful, you don't need to say anything."

She had a deep voice for her age, in a comic way. That, added with her height and the extra size of her ears, Delilah became the embodiment of clumsiness itself. In Shadow's opinion, it was perfectly right - if someone asked him how he imagined Delilah as a teenager, he'd describe exactly what he was seeing at that moment.

"Now" She joined her palms in a clap, excited. "What's the plan? I can't go back anyway, since the machine doesn't work on this side, so I better help you.

He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Right." Shadow got the emerald from the poncho and tied it on his shoulder again, like he did two hundred years later, which for him were only some minutes ago. His head spinned in confusion. "Let's take a look at our new landscape first."

They went through the trail that led to the hideout's exit. Delilah was practically hopping in excitement.

"I can't believe I'll get to meet all your friends! Do you think they'll like me? I want to talk to those people so much, I spent so much time looking at the recordings and…"

She lost speech when they got out of the cave.

It was the biggest of Eggman's bases Shadow had ever seen. A big round dome made of concrete in the center, with glass panels on top of it, was the starting point for the rest of the structure. The wind was strong there, and they could see lightning strikes on the horizon.

"Samson was so wrong..." She mentioned, gaping.

"Samson?"

"My computer. We used to chat all day, and I programmed him to do the weather forecast for the future  _ and _ for the past. He told me that today would be only chilly and cloudy… But I think he missed by a margin.

_ Samson and Delilah. Smart kid. _ Shadow didn't know what to say. He left behind a tiny girl that could barely read, and she came back knowing quantum physics, computer engineering and, seemingly, even a little bit of literature.

"You did all of that just to give my stuff back?"

Delilah stared at him, a serious expression on her face. Her ears flew around them with the wind, and for a moment she looked a lot older than she really was.

"I did all of that 'cause I wanted my friend back. It doesn't really matter what excuse I used to come back."

Before Shadow could feel awkward, she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the base.

"Come on, we have to stop Eggman from getting Tails! That's the plan, right?"

"Wait. We don't have to run."

"Shadow, it's nine o'clock… If my calculations are right, the battle starts in half an hour! We can't go  _ walking _ !"

"I know. But let me tell you a secret." He put his hand on her shoulder, holding the emerald up high with the other. "When Chaos is in balance,  _ that's _ how my powers really work."

In the blink of an eye, they disappeared from the landscape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A LITTLE TRIVIA FOR YOU: Although "Samson and Delilah" are names from the Bible, it's not where I took their names from. Actually, the origin is much sillier.
> 
> There's a comic book series in Brazil called "Mônica and Friends" (I don't remember if they translated to "Mônica and Friends" or "Mônica's Gang", but I'll go with friends because... "gang" is kinda weird) that's about a bunch of kids that live on the same neighborhood and go to adventures together. It's funny and innocent, mostly for children. The main character, Mônica, is a really strong girl who attacks her bullies by throwing her blue bunny plushie on them. It usually hurts. The name of the bunny is... Samson!
> 
> Probably for marketing reasons (to sell more plushies and stuff), Mônica also has another bunny plushie, a pink one... Called Delilah. So there you have it.
> 
> Delilah was supposed to be called Lilly (and she wasn't even a hare when I started writing - I haven't decided on her species at first), but as I went on developing the story, she changed a lot... Specially her personality. So I needed a name that sounded stronger. Delilah was perfect!
> 
> I hope you liked that tiny bit of trivia, hahaha!


	13. Those Two Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's like Super Mario Bros.!
> 
> Wait

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those interactions were just priceless to write.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckPfk3Lu8PU

They were right above what it looked like an army of robots, organized in perfect lines. All of them were deactivated, but still, the sight gave them chills.

Shadow was certain that the robots would converge to them the moment he stepped on the perimeter. All of them. At the same time. He understood how Eggman caught Sonic by surprise now - knowing him, he probably entered the base running and activated the whole army.

"How do we get across?" Delilah asked, with her normal tone of voice. Which means she practically screamed.

"Shhh! I'm thinking. We need to make way through this army."

"Ok!" She got up immediately, as if Shadow ordered her to be their infantry.

"Nope, get back here." He pulled her by the ears and she fell down with an "Ouch!", frowning at him. "I said we needed a path, not a dead rabbit."

" _Hare_. You still get it wrong?!"

"Not now, Delilah." He got up.

"Ah, so _you_ can fight, but _I_ have to stay right here, quietly..."

"I didn't ask you to stay here. If you want to help so much, so be it. I want you to wait until I distract those robots enough so you can get through. Silently. Emphasis on 'silently'."

"So we get to be like secret agents or something!"

"I am one."

She stared at him, blinking.

"Why do I still surprise myself? What else are you, president of some unknown country?"

He huffled, resigned.

"Delilah, _focus_. As soon as they attack me, you go to the dome. Can you do that?"

"No. Just kidding, of course I can." She added with a laugh, when he opened his mouth to argue. "Just give me a signal!"

He nodded. With cat steps, Shadow got into the robot army.

Exactly like he expected, all of them turned to him, their weapons pointing at his chest. Shadow saw millions of small red dots all over his body. _Guided missiles_. There was a single second of heavy silence.

Then, gunshots.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

Delilah got on top of a giant rock and looked around, putting her hand on her forehead like the Sun was disturbing her sight, even though there was no Sun. Below her, she could see the pandemonium of all the robots after Shadow, and that's when she finally understood why he looked so intimidating everytime Delilah talked to him when they first met: it was practically impossible to even see what he was doing, such were his reflexes. In a matter of seconds, a pile of destroyed bots grew bigger and bigger.

Shadow has told her to go to the dome, but he didn't specify _how_.

She moved away from the rock's border, hopped a little in place, and then ran. When she got to the edge, Delilah jumped.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

Hedgehogs can roll like balls.

Hares can _jump_.

That's what crossed Shadow's mind, standing still, holding the head of a badnik in one hand and the body on the other, looking up, watching Delilah fly over him and the robot army in one single jump, like she was in slow motion. He watched as her ears expanded beside her, even bigger than he remembered, and almost took a shot on the forehead because of that - he had to teleport quickly to get out of the way.

And there she went, flying over everything, gliding towards the dome's roof.

_Well, one less thing to worry about._

With Delilah out of harm's way, he ran towards the center, leaving a trail of destruction where he passed through.

The dome was made of solid concrete, and Shadow had to run around to find a way in. At last, he found an already opened air duct on the other side. He went through the duct before attracting more robots, wondering who opened that thing. Advancing through the duct, he was guided by the sounds; the further from the beeps and clicks emitted by the badniks, the closer he'd be. When it was silent enough, Shadow got down.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

Eggman had installed air defenses, too.

When she was reaching the dome's roof, Delilah saw a sentinel right below her, throwing a net in her direction. Thinking fast, she pulled down her ears, avoiding the net and falling right on top of the sentinel. The thing threw a bunch of beeps, like it was genuinely annoyed by the girl's presence.

"What are you going to do, now, huh?! Aaaaaaaaah!"

The sentinel turned upside down and Delilah saw herself hanging by the tips of her fingers, dangerously close to turning into pancake on the floor below. When she thought it "couldn't get worse", it did: five or six more sentinels surrounded her, pointing their guns at her.

"Oops." That was all she could say.

A broken leg or a bunch of holes?

A broken leg, certainly.

Delilah let go the sentinel and tried to open her ears again, but the wind was too strong for that. She fell down.

Her body strongly hit a shiny smooth surface, sooner than she expected, and the air left her lungs in protest. Fighting hard to breathe, Delilah opened her eyes. The "floor" was shockingly red, with white stripes on its wings.

Wings?!

"Are you all right there?" She heard a voice, a voice she knew from watching the recordings a thousand times, for nine years straight. A cheerful and teasing voice. "Sorry for the rough rescue, but I wasn't expecting you to let go the sentinel - that's the type of thing I'd do!"

She tried getting up and regretted immediately - the red floor with wings moved quickly through the sky, and she was thrown back. Holding herself on the edge, she put down one knee, then the other, and checked out where the hell she was.

"Is that a plane?!"

"No, it's a bird" The teasing voice yelled below her. "Wait, I have to land. Don't go flying in the wind again! This thing can't turn as fast as me, anyway."

The biplane landed roughly on top of the dome, scratching Delilah's knees with the impact. She descended from its wings, tripping on her own ears and tangling herself. Spinning around to disentangle herself, Delilah stopped, feeling dizzy, seeing five blue spots in front of her.

"How many fingers?" The blue spots lifted two fingers.

"Thirteen. And a half."

"Almost there" He leaned the girl on his own arm, waiting for her to stabilize herself. "What the hell were you doing back there? Not that I don't approve some boldness, but I don't think it was working."

"I didn't know about the sentinels… Wait, it's you!" She moved away and pointed at him, excited. "The blue dude from the recordings!!!"

"Me. Meat and quills. And shoes." Sonic bowed at her, then stopped in the middle, his body half-bent, processing what she just said. "What recordings?"

"The bat's recording, you turn the camera and..."

He widened his eyes, surprised.

"Only Tails has this video. _Who are you_?" He frowned and stiffened, worried he might been facing a spy of some sort.

"My name is Delilah!" She made a bow just like him. "Quantum physics, computer engineering and literature student, and now also a time traveler."

"Time trav..." The frown turned to a bright smile. "IT WORKED!" He grabbed the girl by her shoulders. "The time capsule worked! Wait..." His face suddenly got pale. "It was for Shadow. Not for you."

"Oh, he's already here." She gestured with her hands, like it was nothing. "He came before me, actually, so I had to build a nuclear reactor, and..."

"He _did_? AWESOME!" He hugged her by the shoulders, cheering like they were watching a football match. Then he faced her again. "And who are you again?"

"Delilah! I helped him find your hideout. I mean, I will. Two hundred years later. But I already did.”

"Right, I won't think too much about time travelling, it hurts my brain." He moved away quickly towards the center of the dome. "I was after a friend of mine, but I had to take a detour so you didn't become robot food down there. But I think we can enter the thing from here…

Delilah didn't answer right away. She watched the recordings too many times to know what would happen. Sonic wouldn't find Tails, ends up breaking his arm and would lose the battle. And Tails would become Eggman's hostage for the rest of his life. But now, something different happened.

Delilah forced Sonic to change his own path, and Shadow distracted all the badniks. Sonic was never attacked.

She smiled.

_This future is ours, Eggman._

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

The inside of the dome was a confusion of cables of all shapes and sizes; some of them were so wide that Shadow was sure he could walk inside them, without the need to bend down.

All cables converged to the same place: a big platform with a control panel, where the Master Emerald stood inside a glass cylinder. The dome was completely empty except for a lonely figure, right below the emerald. With both tails waving constantly, completely focused on what he was doing, the little fox messed with the panel's wiring, probably trying to deactivate the machine.

Shadow barely took a step before hearing a loud noise at the huge door. Its halves opened violently, and badniks invaded the dome, determined to end Shadow once and for all.

"No, you idiots, the dome has to keep closed!" He heard Eggman's voice from a speaker above the door. "What do you think you're doing?"

Shadow destroyed all the robots one by one, like they were made of paper. Tails didn't even bother to look back, focused as he was with his task.

A single robot managed to get past Shadow's defenses and went after the fox. Shadow teleported beside it, grabbed a crowbar from Tails' hand and hit it hard on the badnik's head. The thing went flying to the other side of the dome and hit the wall, letting out sparks and sadly turning its lights down. Tails didn't even blink.

"Thanks for the cover, Sonic. Could you grab me the screwdriver, please?" He asked, his palm extended towards Shadow.

Tails didn't notice who was beside him, and simply assumed it was Sonic. Shadow didn't bother correcting him; it wasn't the first time he got mistaken for the other. He looked down at the tool box close to the kid.

"There's a hundred screwdrivers here. Which one do you need?"

The boy screamed and fell down, startled by Shadow's deeper voice.

"Sh-Shadow! How did you..."  His face brightened up as he stood up. "The plan worked! You came back!"

"That was very ingenious of you."

"Thank you… I was afraid you'd try getting back before I finished building the machine, but I guess you thought about that."

"Yes." Shadow didn't want to stretch the conversation; they had to deactivate that thing as fast as possible. "What do you need?"

"I'm trying to find a way to prevent the connection between the machine and Eggman's nuclear reactor. I didn't succeed so far, maybe he already expected that I'd try hacking the system. I guess we'll need to do it the hard way."

"Pulling out the cables?"

"Correct. But they're too big, and I'm afraid we'll end up blowing everything up if we destroy the cables at the wrong order. Knuckles won't be happy if we explode the emerald..."

"We can't let it explode" Shadow explained. "If the emerald explode with the reactor, it will annihilate the whole planet's ecosystem and end civilization as we know it in less than two hundred years."

Tails stared at him, his eyes wide open. Then shook his head, frowning.

"You shouldn't have told me that! Your little time adventure was paradox enough..."

"Don't even bother worrying about paradoxes anymore, believe me."

"But I have to! Messing with space and time can trigger a lot of issues..."

He hushed abruptly, after hearing a loud shattering noise from the roof. Both of them looked up, perplexed, upon noticing a huge shadow blocking the the daylight from outside the dome.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

"Whoa, is that the Master Emerald?"

Sonic didn't answer immediately; just stared at the room below then, frowning.

"When I find out what that egghead did with Knuckles, I swear he'll regret it. And yeah, it is."

"It's huge!!!"

"Yeah… Well, we'll have to get down. I know you have no problem with heights, and I think those ears of yours can help.

"Descending is my speciality!" Delilah confirmed, shaking her ears with an enthusiastic nod. "But how are we going to open the windows?"

"Breaking stuff is mine! Well, actually my speciality is running, but I'm good at that too." He moved away from the center, ran and jumped like a ball over Delilah. His speed was so great that he got really high before dropping hard right in the middle of the glass panels. Delilah took the opportunity to jump after him, grabbing his hand before he fell and doing the second thing she could do best: gliding smoothly towards the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as I said now we're in the fun part! I hope you like it because I had waaaaay too much fun writing those last chapters.


	14. Doctor Octopus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's like Spiderman, but with no spiders! Or men
> 
> Well it has one man, but not a spider one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise it's not a crossover hahaha, just a tiny joke
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY

"GERONIMOOOOOOO!"

Sonic and Delilah went downwards, gliding in circles, surrounded by sparkling glass shards. Shadow and Tails had to run away with their arms covering their heads, avoiding the glass rain above them. When they finally lifted their heads, both saw the other duo landing swiftly, and Sonic's head got covered by one of Delilah's huge ears when she fell beside him on her own feet.

"Tah-dah!" She said, raising her arms like she was thanking an audience. Sonic did the same thing, but still below her ear so they could only see Delilah's fur waving around.

"Sonic!" Tails got from behind the huge cable, running towards his friend. "I'd like to say you're late."

"Haha, very funny." He got out of Delilah's year, laughing back at Tails. "I had to make a detour to stop _that one_ from becoming rabbit stew."

" _Hare_!"

"Sorry. Why didn't you tell me you were infiltrating the base? We totally lost contact with you."

"It was an opportunity strike. I thought I could find Knuckles here, but the only thing I got was the emerald. And since all of this didn't look good at all, I decided to try and deactivate the machine. The dome's walls cut any kind of connection, so I couldn't warn you.

"What a touching reunion" Shadow finally got from behind the cable, after spending several minutes taking glass shards out of his quills. "But now that both of you almost murdered us with a glass rain, can we get back to the issue in question?"

"Shadow!" Delilah waved at him intensely, like he was miles away from her instead of right there. "Great to see everything went fine for you, too!"

" _Too_? Sonic just told us he had to save you."

"Well, it worked out at the end. I'm here, aren't I?"

"If I knew you were going to almost kill yourself _again,_  I'd send you back to the cave."

"You're such a boring old hedgehog!"

Sonic and Tails kept watching them argue, their heads turning one way to the other, like they were watching a ping-pong match.

"This is literally the most unlikely partnership I've ever saw." Tails whispered, apprehensively.

"Are you kidding me?! It's wonderful! She makes him even more mad than I do!" Sonic whispered back, chuckling.

"Ok, ok!" Tails decided to interrupt them, lifting his arms. "There's a machine doing who-knows-what with the emerald, and we need to turn it off. First of all, who are you?

"Delilah! Time traveler, quantum physics student..."

"Delilah helped me get back when I was in the future." Shadow interrupted her, briefly. "After that she followed me here. _This_ is the reason I told you not to worry about paradoxes; she's a walking one."

"Oh. Well. Four heads think better than one. Right." He turned back to the machine. "I still couldn't hack Eggman's system and I don't know how much time we have left, so we have to turn it off manually."

"And hoooow are we going to do that…?" Sonic asked, gesturing for the boy to explain more.

"Basically we'll pull the cables off."

"Nice! Destroy stuff." And moved away to attack the closest cable. Tails pulled him from the quills _(ouch!)_.

"Not yet. It has to be at the right order, or else we'll blow everything up, including ourselves."

"How can we get the right order, Tails?" Shadow asked.

"I _think_ I can at least see those infos on the control panel, even though I can't modify them. But I need some time."

"What can we do to help you?" Inquired Delilah.

That moment, more badniks entered the dome, ready to attack them.

"You can begin by covering me" He pointed at the door.

"Wait" Shadow pulled Delilah from the ears, when she rolled up her sleeves to enter the fight. "Delilah built a nuclear reactor by herself to make the machine work, Tails. She can help you."

"Oh… Really?! Well, then she can help me here while both of you..."

He didn't get to finish his sentence. Both hedgehogs were already destroying every robot they could put their hands on.

"Ok. Delilah, right?"

She nodded furiously, her ears flying everywhere.

"You'll help me identify each one of these cables.

"Sir, yes, sir!" She saluted at him. "Y'know, you seemed taller on the videos."

"Ahhhhh…" He didn't know how to answer that. "Right, let me see..."

He typed a code at the control panel, and a blueprint of the machine appeared at the screen. He couldn't interact with it, though; he had to do everything manually.

"We need a way to mark the cables… Are those my protection glasses?"

"They were, two hundred years ago." She answered, putting the glasses on her forehead. "I mean. They are. But I didn't take those now, I got them two hundred years later. And I know how to mark the cables!"

"How?!" His head hurt with time confusion already.

"With this!" She stuffed her hand on one of her pockets and pulled a gigantic collection of colored markers. "I found them on your bunker. I will, actually. But not now. Later."

"All right, all right, I got it!" He took the tablet from his bag and connected it on the control panel, copying the blueprint to the device. "C'mon, we have to walk around the dome to identify this weird wiring.

While they walked around the whole dome's perimeter, Shadow and Sonic made rain out of robot's remains.

"How was it to be two hundred years older?" Sonic asked, throwing a badnik head towards Shadow.

"I didn't get older, dumbass." He got a robot's arm and hit it hard on the head Sonic threw, sending it far away from there. "For me, I left for only a couple of days."

"Whoa, that one went far..." Sonic jumped on three robots at once, landing beside Shadow.

"Why didn't you guys ask for reinforcements when you found out about this base?" Shadow threw a spear of energy that destroyed three more, one after the other.

"We did, but if we have to wait for your work colleagues, we'd better move to Caribbean and watch the world end while drinking _piña colada_.

"I doubt Rouge would deny help..."

"I'm not talking about Team Dark, you doofus. She and Omega went on to investigate Knuckles' whereabouts. Each one of us has a task.

"Don't call me doofus."

"You started it."

Both kicked a particularly big robot towards the dome's exit. The badnik did the rest of the job for them and took down the remaining ones, blocking the entrance.

"I think that gives us enough time to destroy the..."

_BAM._

The robots that blocked the door went flying through the air when a giant claw stomped the floor with a bang, leaving a five-finger furrow on the concrete.

"Did you really think" They heard a voice coming from the radio of a gigantic, cylindrical robot that entered through the door, sustained by seven extra arms. "That I'd watch you demolish my Chaos collector" The robot stood tall once inside the dome, at least five meters above both hedgehogs. "and not do _anything_?"

There was a tiny window in the center of its cylindrical body. They could see Eggman's ugly face inside - it wasn't a robot, but a mecha.

"The man of the year!" Sonic raised his arms, greeting him. "How's it going, Doctor Octopus?" He was beat to the other side of the dome as an answer, hitting his back on the dome's wall. Shadow teleported away from the mecha when another claw tried to do the same to him, reappearing right beside Sonic.

"I'm okay!" Sonic lifted one of his arms, his face stuck on the floor. Shadow pulled him by the armpit roughly. "Ouch, I thought he was going to do his villain discourse first..."

"You were always really good at underestimating your adversaries, Sonic."

"It's just Eggman!"

"It's the person with the highest IQ in the world."

Sonic opened his mouth to argue, but Eggman didn't give him a chance; a claw stomped between then, and both had to jump away to avoid getting squashed by the mecha.

"Aww, Eggman, if you wanted to help us wreck your place so badly, you could have just asked!" Sonic yelled, landing on top of one of the robot's arms. "Be my guest!"

"The dome is made to contain the radiation levels, you stupid rodent! I don't need it! After I finish the collecting process, the whole place can blow up in toxic waste for all I care!" He threw another claw towards the hedgehog, who easily avoided it and landed on top of the cylinder. "Get out of there, you parasite!"

Shadow watched their little "game", a sudden idea popping on his head.

"Tails!" He called. "How's our progress?"

"All ready!" The one who answered was Delilah, landing right beside him, dusting off her hoodie. "We numbered all cable in the order you have to destroy them. Just go for it!"

Both looked while the mecha dismantle what remained of the dome, trying to catch a Sonic who wouldn't stand still.

"...Maybe that can get in the way."

"No, it will help us" He wan towards the mecha, gesturing for Delilah to follow him. "We'll make Eggman destroy all of the cables for us, one by one."

"Great idea" Tails landed on his other side, giving some markers back to Delilah. "But we'll have to separate into duos. The cables are scattered everywhere. And both duos need to be in perfect sync with each other.

Shadow stared at him while preventing Delilah from losing her head to one of Eggman's claws. Sonic went flying above them.

"Tails, a little hand!" The boy didn't even blink: he jumped over the claw and took Sonic's hand in the air, spinning and launching him up high so Sonic could hit the center of the mecha. The thing fell down with the attack's strength, and both friends landed at the same time, side by side.

"Anyway, I don't know how we'll get to that level of synchrony…

"Tails, you come with me. Delilah, you go with Sonic."

"Whoa, where we going?" Sonic asked since he wasn't taking part on the conversation before.

"I just told you we need synchrony and you take us both apart?!" Tails asked, incredulous.

"Exactly. You both are in perfect sync, while me and Delilah..." He looked at the girl, who seemed totally oblivious to the conversation, and more worried about cleaning her glasses. "Well, I can foresee what she's going to do. We need communication between the two groups, not between us. Do you understand my train of thought?"

The boy stared at him for a while, then widened his eyes, finally getting it.

"Yes! Great idea!"

"I don't get it." Sonic raised his hand, like they were in a classroom. At that moment, Eggman got back in the game, lifting his mecha and going after the group.

"You'll get it as the plan goes. Delilah, tell him what to do on the way. Let's go!"

Shadow turned to follow Tails.

"Shadow!"

He turned back. Sonic stared at him, seriously.

"If something happens to him, I'll go through hell and back after you."

Shadow smiled and glanced up to Delilah.

"Same to you." He retorted.

Sonic smiled back, and both turned away, each one following their own path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was really hard to translate. I had so many good expressions in Portuguese that I had to adapt >:


	15. To Live

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To live, and have no shame about your happiness. That's the beauty of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE MUSIC SAYS IT ALL
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg_L4vzn8k0

"Where are you, you rats?!" Eggman screamed, turning the mecha. The cameras that helped him look where he was striking were damaged, after the fall and Sonic's attacks; he had to turn the mecha every time he needed to see, and could only attack one thing at a time, or else he'd wreck the machine.

"I… Hate… Animals."

"Hey, egghead!"

He knew that voice too well. Eggman turned the robot and saw him, right on top of one of the cables, waving at him.

"Get your dirty paws off my project!" He threw one of the claws against his arch enemy, and obviously missed. Deep down he knew that'd happened, but maybe this time…

The claw pierced through the power cable. Sparkles flew everywhere.

"No!" He looked at the panel that showed him the machine's progress: the energy levels were in 87,5%, but the drainage's speed diminished drastically upon striking the cable. He could still finish his plan, but Eggman had to finish them all before something else happened.

He felt a powerful wave strike the mecha's body and screamed, blindly throwing the claw towards another cable. The drainage felt to 75%.

He shouted in anger.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

"There are eight cables, all of them big ones. The first one is theirs."

Tails made a signal for the other duo to start. Delilah nodded and guided Sonic to the right cable. The girl had a great memory, and was able to remember the exact order without looking at the numbers. While they got in action, Shadow and Tails had to stay out of Eggman's sight - which was easy, since his sensors were damaged and he depended on the small window to look where he was going.

Both of them watched from behind one of the cables while Sonic easily avoided a strike. The mecha lost power after piercing the cable, and Eggman lost one of the claws upon pulling it back.

One for each cable, then. They had to be precise.

"Our turn" whispered Shadow, when Delilah waved at him. Both ran to the next cable. There was a "2" drawn with a bright pink marker on it. Shadow wondered how did the marker last two hundred years to have that much ink. Following the plan, Tails stood out of the way, waiting to give Sonic the signal.

As expected, Eggman tried hitting Shadow, missed it, and pierced the cable.

Only six left. At Tails' sign, the other two went on to the next one.

"Shadow, it's working!"

"Yes."

They kept alternating the teams, bothering Eggman, making him destroy his own invention. When there were only two cables left, everything went down.

It was Shadow and Tails' turn to call for Eggmans's attention, but the scientist had other plans. (Finally) noticing their plan, he made a feint, pretending to attack Shadow and throwing a second claw on the other duo instead. Not expecting the attack, Delilah was about to get hit, when Sonic pushed her out of the way and got the full blow in her place. He got thrown in the air and fell down, disappearing in the middle of the cable pile. Eggman dangerously wobbled the claw again.

"Sonic!" Shouted Tails, losing focus and running to help his friend.

"He'll strike the wrong cable!" Delilah screamed, trying to get past some debris to stop him. "Everything's gonna blow!"

The claw went down.

Stopped in the air.

Shadow had teleported right below the claw and held it in his hands, preventing it from breaking the cable. He pulled it away, but Eggman didn't give him time to think; He smashed the claw back again with all strength the broken mecha still had left, keeping Shadow there. He had to go to the other side to keep the plan going, or else all their efforts would be in vain. Eggman attacked once more, and Shadow stopped the claw again. He couldn't even use any Chaos power without the risk of destroying the cable too.

"I'll… Smash… All of you!" Eggman was livid, throwing strike after strike upon Shadow. It was his life project, and they were ruining it. He wanted blood.

"Shadow!" He heard Delilah's voice, and looked up: she was on top of a platform, gathering momentum to jump. Eggman got distracted with the noise and stopped the strikes, looking up, too. Delilah didn't have to say anything else; Shadow ran too, hopped over the mecha's claw and jumped. Delilah caught him on the air and both glided to the other side. Eggman, blinded with rage, followed them, determined to kill at least one of his enemies.

As soon as they landed, Eggman striked again. Shadow grabbed Delilah's hand and both disappeared, reappearing on top of the cable on the other side. The mecha pierced the right cable once again.

Only one left.

"AAAAAARGH!" Eggman wobbled the last claw in a desperate effort. With only one arm left, the mecha went down on top of the last cable, putting an end to the energy collector once and for all. Eggman got out of the broken mecha, screaming and raging, losing the tiny amount of sanity he still had. "If I can go on with my plan, no one can! Say goodbye to this stupid stone, because I'll blow everything up! Oooohohohohoohohho!"

He lifted a small remote control. Pressed the button. A series of red lights turned on, and the control panel below the emerald registered a one-minute sequence. Still laughing uncontrollably, he climbed onto his round ship, that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and flew away.

"I hate counters..." Mentioned Delilah.

Shadow looked at the emerald. There was only one way to save it and prevent the ecosystem from being destroyed now. He ran towards its compartment, concentrated all Chaos energy he could on his left hand, and punched the glass. The Chaos's power surpassed its protection, striking the emerald at full force.

The stone shattered, throwing its fragments in the air. Shadow knew that those shards would scatter through the whole world, waiting to be found again, and safe from the radioactive explosion. The strength of his attack made what little remained from the dome go down. Heavy concrete boulders fell around him.

Avoiding the debris, Shadow came back to Delilah, who was miraculously intact, although she didn't even move. Grabbing her hand again, both disappeared with a crack.

They were back where they started, at the trail that led to the cave. The wind was still strong, the grass waved on their feet, although the rain was still far away.

"Sonic and Tails!" It was the first thing Delilah yelled when they reappeared. "We have to save them!"

"They can get out, Delilah. Sonic probably grabbed Tails and got out of there already."

They stared at the dome as it went down. Sooner it was going to explode, and there was nothing they could do; Shadow only hoped GUN evacuated the closer city. That place would be inhabited for decades after the radioactive leak.

Sonic didn't show up.

Delilah stared at Shadow, her eyes wide open.

"Stay here" Shadow commanded, in response to her frightened look, taking a step forward and holding the yellow emerald.

"Careful!"

He vanished.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

_ That's great, you stupid animal. The thing you do best is run, and then you let a giant boulder fall right on top of your leg. Congratulations, you idiot. _

Sonic was a lot more angry than worried at himself. How could he let something like that happen? Surely he broke his leg. Even if he managed to get out of there alive, Sonic would lose at least two weeks in forced rest, with an immobilized leg. It was going to be heeeeeeeeell.

Oh, of course, the dome was about to explode, too. Welp, it happens.

"Motherf...'

"Sonic!" His entire bloodstream froze upon hearing his friend's voice. "Where are you?"

He stood in silence. Maybe Tails would leave the dome if he didn't find him…

It was asking too much to hope that the smartest person he ever met wouldn't find the only blue thing in a sea of red and gray. Tails appeared on top of all that wreckage behind him, shouting upon seeing him.

"Hey! You come here often?" Sonic waved at him, trying to look unconcerned.

"Wait, I'll get you out of there!" He got down floating and grabbed Sonic by the armpits.

"Get me out? Nah, I'm fine! I'mOUCH OUCH OUCH not fine not fine not fine" Sonic yelled when Tails pulled him, wincing in pain. Tails let go of him and looked around.

"I need something to lift the boulder..."

"Tails" Sonic held his arm before he moved away. "Get away from here."

The boy stared at him, confused.

"Not without you." He said, finally getting what Sonic meant.

"I'm below a giant rock that must weight at least a ton, you can't take me out of here.  _ Leave _ ."

"You lost your mind if you think I'll leave you behind!"

"One of us has to leave this place alive!" He lifted his body as much as he could, trying to stay taller than Tails. "I forbid you to stay here with me. You'll go  _ now _ , do you understand?"

"Force me!"

"I'M YOUR OLDER BROTHER AND I DEMAND YOU GET OUT OF HERE!"

"SCREW YOU!"

"AND YOU DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, YOU..."

"Cahem."

Both stopped arguing and looked up. Shadow was on top of a giant rock, his arms crossed, a single lifted brow on his face.

"Did you finish this useless argument already? Because we're only five seconds away from the explosion."

He held out his hands for them.

"Want a ride?"

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

The trio appeared right beside Delilah, at the exact time Eggman's base exploded in front of them.

"Ouch ouch ouch broken leg" Sonic immediately fell, jumping on one foot and throwing himself on the grass. Tails stood still for a while, looking at the explosion, then also fell on his back beside Sonic, with a nervous laugh.

"Tails, you'll want to kill me." Said Sonic, looking up, his hands on top of his stomach.

"Why?"

"I landed Tornado on the dome's roof."

The kid sat on the grass, looking at his friend, and laughed out loud.

"We almost exploded into pieces and you're worried about the plane? I can build another one, Sonic. What matters is that we're ok." He looked at his friend's injured leg. "I mean, mostly. You know you'll have to immobilize that for some weeks, right?"

"Ahhh, don't remind me, I should have stayed at the dome…"

"Shut up, Sonic. Hey" Tails widened his eyes, remembering. "The emerald! It exploded!"

"No it didn't" Shadow looked away from the explosion, staring at the boy. "I shattered it before leaving. Its shards are now scattered through the world."

"Knuckles won't be happy." Sonic added, gesturing with his finger, still looking to the sky.

"It was either that or the planet's ecosystem in shambles. He should thank me."

"You better sit down if you're waiting for  _ that _ , dude."

Shadow noticed something was missing; Delilah was too quiet.

"Delilah? Is there something wrong?"

She had her back to then, and didn't move a muscle. Shadow tapped her shoulder lightly to call her attention. Delilah turned.

Her hands were almost completely transparent. Delilah was disappearing. She looked at her hands, horrified, then faced Shadow, silently calling for help. He put his hand below hers. Shadow could still feel the volume, but it was like putting his hand against an air jet. Like it was there, but wasn't at the same time. He looked at her again, not knowing what to say.

"I… I already knew this was going to happen." She blinked, and a single tear fell down from her eye. "I studied about that for years. There's no way. I  _ am _ a paradox, after all."

"And still you came here? Why?"

She smiled.

"To live."

Shadow frowned. Then, he put both his hands on her shoulder, feeling they were vanishing, too. He had to say something.

"Delilah, you're not disappearing. Our future is changing, and so is yours, too. You  _ will _ live. It will be different" He gestured at the explosion with his head. "Maybe you won't prevent a mad scientist from exploding the whole planet, but future will be good for you. You'll have a family, friends, you'll be able to learn everything you want… You'll be happy."

"But I don't want it to change anymore." She shook her head, her now transparent ears following the movement. "I liked this. I like my life. I liked meeting you guys. I'll forget everything."

"I won't. I promise."

Delilah looked like a ghost in front of him, now; he could see the cave's entrance behind the girl, looking right through her.

She let the tears flow down freely, and each drop vanished the moment it left her face.

"Goodbye, Shadow."

And, slowly, she disappeared, like she was taken by the wind. He let his arms fall beside him, now that his hands weren't holding anything but air. He was vaguely conscious about the pairs of eyes behind him, but Shadow had nothing to say to them.

There was nothing to be said, at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn isn't Dr. Eggman one of the best villains ever created honestly
> 
> Bye Delilah >: I hope your future turns out great


	16. Epilogue - Bonfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The future, after all, it's what you make of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for anything too out of character or too cheezy! It was fun.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWCB3hpJDXM

Since Shadow, Sonic, Tails and Delilah had delayed all of Eggman's plans from the beginning, GUN had enough time to evacuate the nearest city before the explosion. Predictably, that area would be uninhabitable for several decades, like Chernobyl. But everyone was safe, so from all the things that could have happened, they prevented the worse.

They found Knuckles passed out on Hidden Palace. He was okay, although furious; Rouge had to intervene before him and Omega started attacking each other. He got really mad after finding out what happened to the Master Emerald - and only calmed down when Shadow said he would help him find the fragments, although he would certainly go alone. Everybody knew that Knuckles was, in fact, more furious at himself, and nobody blamed him for what happened.

Shadow decided to go on this new mission right after Delilah disappeared. He considered the recovery of the Master Emerald his responsibility, since he was the one who shattered it to start with. And he really wanted to travel by himself for a while. Shadow needed some silent months to organize his thoughts.

Shadow was almost done arranging some last stuff on his office in GUN's headquarters  before leaving, when he heard the door knock.

"Come in."

It was Tails, escorted by one of the agents.

"Huh..." The boy looked pretty awkward. The man had his colorful tablet on his hands.

"He announced he wanted to hand this to you." And handed it over to Shadow.

"And you took it from him because..."

"Security measures, sir."

Shadow frowned at him. (He frowns a lot.) He acquired some respect for Tails that he didn't have before, after seeing him do what he could not only to bring Shadow back, but to prevent Eggman from fullfilling his plan. In the other timeline, Tails basically sacrificed himself for the planet's safety.

"The kid saves the planet a bunch of times and you confiscate his equipment? Give this thing back to him."

The soldier handed the tablet back to Tails and got out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Thank you." The boy gave the device to Shadow.

"Why did you feel the need to give me this?" He took the tablet, examining it. It was strangely dirty and tattered.

"This one is not mine. I mean, it is. But two hundred years later."

Shadow understood what he meant.  _ This one is Delilah's _ .

"I… I had to see what was inside it. I'm sorry."

"I don't know what are you apologizing for." Shadow tapped some random buttons on it, checking its content. "Technically, this thing is yours. We only borrowed it for a while."

"Yeah..." Tails scratched the back of his neck, looking a little bit down. "It didn't cross my mind what I'd find inside it. It was kinda… heavy content to digest."

And Tails hadn't even seen half of what Shadow saw. _ Finding out what could have happened to his own future mustn't be easy.  _ They stood in silence for a while with their own thoughts, feeling slightly umconfortable with each other's presence.

"Wait… Future changed. Shouldn't those videos have disappeared?" Shadow suddenly asked.

"I thought the same thing. For some reason, its content got preserved. I thought the tablet itself was going to vanish too, but it makes sense for it to keep existing, since I already built it in the present. Maybe digital information are immune to time and space modifications? I mean, our memories weren't altered either. I still couldn't find an answer, though."

He got quiet for a while, then rapidly added.

"And I don't know if really want to. Not with  _ this _ information, anyway. I didn't even show Sonic. I showed to no one."

"Makes no difference. It won't happen, ever. The moment Delilah put her foot in the present, all of this was bound to change."

"Do you… Do you think it was because of her that we managed to alter the future?"

He wondered about the question for some time, looking at the office's big window.

"She said something like that the moment we got to the present, and I've been thinking about that since then; after  _ I _ came back by myself, future didn't change. I don't think I told you before, but I first met Delilah when she was only seven."

_ (And a half.) _

Tails widened his eyes.

"But she had at least the same age as Sonic when we fought!"

"A year older, actually. It took her nine years to make the time machine work again. She started studying the moment I disappeared from the future. Do you understand? I came back looking for a way to stop the emerald from exploding, and still, future stood the same. She  _ had _ to be there. Something she did came out to be the key to prevent Eggman from destroying the whole planet. I don't know what it was - maybe none of us ever finds out. But it's a plausible theory."

Tails stared at him for a while, still incredulous.

"She studied quantum physics for  _ nine years _ just to go after you?"

"I never said she had her head on the right place."

"She really doesn't. I mean. I'm sorry. It wasn't what I meant."

Shadow laughed softly, to indicate that he didn't mind the joke. Tails laughed too. Shadow's attention got back to the tablet, and he randomly got to the photos gallery. There were a lot of pictures with Tails, Sonic and his other friends, but in the end, there was a different photo.

It was him and Delilah, both really close to the camera, both with squinted eyes due to the sudden flash. The picture was really clear, with Delilah right in front, her tiny wrinkled nose, her eyes shut, her huge ears hanging on her back, her tattered poncho. Delilah, seven and a half, who taught him how to light a bonfire with sticks. Delilah, responsible for the safety of an entire planet, just because she wanted to live a big adventure with Shadow, her best friend. He smiled.

"Thank you, Tails. Can I keep it?"

The boy turned his head abruptly from the window, staring at him with surprise. Then, he smiled back.

"Of course! I don't think there's a problem if both tablets exist at the same time. If nothing happened until now… And honestly, I want to keep some distance from this one, at least for a while. Maybe, in the future, I can examine its content with a cleared mind."

"Whenever you like."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! It ends!
> 
> Thank you for everyone who read that far! It's the biggest fanfiction I've ever written, and I loved every second of it. Time travelling is my favorite topic to write, and it has so many possibilities that it makes you crazy, hahaha. During the production I changed the ending A LOT OF TIMES because I couldn't decide what I liked best. In the end I chose to make Delilah grow up and take action to help her new friend, and I think it was a good decision after all. The album below has some pictures of how Delilah actually is:
> 
> https://imgur.com/a/8U1bs
> 
> Those are just sketches but she's fun to draw hahaha
> 
> And one last song for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4TL2-PkNE8
> 
> Critiques are welcome! If you think something could be better, if everything is TOO out of character, please leave a comment! If you like it you can give a comment too <3


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